The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, has ordered negotiators to cut short peace talks with Palestinians in Sweden because of the continuing violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a statement, the Israeli leader said he also wanted to be briefed on the talks. Israeli and the Palestinian negotiators have been holding discussions in Stockholm in a bid to agree a framework for a final peace deal.
Mr Barak has also cancelled a planned trip to the United States later today following a week of worsening clashes with the Palestinians and increased violence in Lebanon. Mr Barak was to meet US President Bill Clinton to try to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The Israeli government has ordered a ban on travel to the Palestinian territories after a toddler was severely burned in a fire-bomb attack. The two-year-old girl was hurt when the car in which she was travelling near the West Bank town of Jericho came under attack. The army said the incident was one of several firebomb attacks against Israeli cars travelling in the region.
A Palestinian teenager who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in the West Bank a week ago died today in hospital. The 16-year-old was hit during exchanges between Israeli and Palestinian forces near the town of Ramallah on Monday. Five more Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded during the week which saw demonstrations, in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, turn violent.
