Middle East talks to convene after Israeli raid

The "Quartet" of Middle East mediators meets today to try to push Israelis and Palestinians along their "road map" peace plan…

The "Quartet" of Middle East mediators meets today to try to push Israelis and Palestinians along their "road map" peace plan, just hours after Israel killed a Hamas leader.

The latest outbreak of violence was accompanied by Israeli threats of more attacks on Palestinians it regards as "ticking bombs".

No major announcements were expected from the meeting of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations on the sidelines of a gathering of the World Economic Forum by the Dead Sea in Jordan.

But Israel's shooting of Hamas leader Abdullah Kawasme in the West Bank city of Hebron - denounced as an "assassination" by Palestinians although Israeli sources said they tried to arrest him first - was sure to make the Quartet's task harder.

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Among the areas to be surveyed are the level of violence between the two sides and negotiations on Israel handing back security control of the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem to the Palestinians.

Separately, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters that Israel was considering easing its stance on having full control of a road in the Gaza Strip in favour of joint patrols with the Palestinians.

The killing of Kawasme, however, triggered Arab accusations Israel was not doing what was needed to establish peace and to carry out the road map.

"There is a plan (the road map) and we have to execute it. It is clear they are not executing it," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters in Jordan.

Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres sounded a more positive note.

"We were at conflict because we did not have a common vision. Now that we have a common vision (the road map) we can overcome the mistakes of the past," he said in Jordan.