Islamic militants have carried out scores of bomb attacks against Israelis since the signing of a breakthrough 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. The United States is attempting to broker an end to eight months of raging violence. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to send representatives to the US-hosted meetings after talks with new US Middle East envoy William Burns. Arafat then flew to Moscow for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. He later met Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Every day there are victims on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
President Putin discussed peace prospects by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ahead of the meeting with Arafat at the Kremlin. Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres stressed that the talks, which have been effectively stalled for months, must resume quickly to take advantage of the momentum from the visit of Mr Burns. He said the Palestinian side wanted the talks to produce a plan to implement international proposals on ending eight months of violence and restarting peace talks. Israel has said it will not resume political negotiations while Palestinian violence continues. The Palestinian side has said security and political issues must be discussed as a package.