Israel has appealed to the United States to intercede with Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat to halt spiralling violence, as Arab foreign ministers recommended freezing political contacts with the Jewish state.
Israel's Defence Minister Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer asked American Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld and the US administration to do all they could to persuade Mr Arafat to stop the violence, Ben-Eliezer's spokesman said.
Mr Ben-Eliezer and Mr Rumsfeld spoke by phone yesterday after 22 people were killed in two days of Arab-Israeli bloodshed and gunfire echoed in West Bank and Gaza Strip flashpoints.
Two rounds of Israeli air raids moved Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt yesterday to recommend the suspension of political contacts with the Israeli government until it halted its military assaults against the Palestinians. They did not call for an outright break in diplomatic ties.