Israeli troops killed two Palestinian men at a West Bank checkpoint today in fresh violence that marred a new US peace mission to end 14 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
Palestinian witnesses and medics said the two men were killed after Israeli troops opened fire on a van which tried to bypass a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. The army said it was checking the incident.
In a separate incident, Israeli military sources said Palestinian gunmen wounded two Israelis in a drive-by shooting near the Palestinian West Bank village of Baqaa al-Sharqiya near the border with Israel.
The continuing violence posed a challenge to the US peace drive, as envoy Mr Anthony Zinni pressed on with a new round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials today. His initial meetings this week with Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat brought no breakthrough.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said he expected a timetable for Israeli-Palestinian peace to come from US mediation efforts.
Mr Powell had disappointed Palestinians by omitting any mention of a timetable from his November 19 speech in which he reactivated the US role in Middle East peacemaking.
Israeli officials and Israel's supporters in the United States, however, welcomed the omission on the grounds that past timelines had proved artificial and unrealistic.
Israel will recognise a Palestinian state if it is formed under a peace agreement, Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said ahead of a visit to the United States today.
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Mr Sharon also stood firm on his demand for seven days of complete calm after 14 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence before an internationally brokered talks plan can begin.
"In the end we will reach a solution in which there will be a Palestinian state, but it has to be a Palestinian state by agreement and it has to be a demilitarised Palestinian state," he said.
He said his insistence there must be seven days of peace before talks can be considered has the backing of the United States.
The period of calm has been a stumbling block, with the Palestinians being unable to prevent factions from launching attacks on Israelis.
Israel says Mr Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority are not doing enough to prevent the attacks.