Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group has said an exchange of prisoners is the only way to secure the release of three Israeli soldiers held captive by the group since last weekend. The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, held separate unscheduled talks with the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. Meanwhile, Israeli troops have shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian during clashes in the West Bank. The latest death brings to at least 91 the number of people killed during the two weeks of unrest in the region.
The Israeli Army has said, however, that there has been a significant decrease in violent incidents in the West Bank for the first time since widespread demonstrations by Palestinians began two weeks ago. However, the unrest continued in the Gaza Strip, where a 12-year-old boy yesterday become the latest Palestinian to be shot dead by Israeli troops. About 100 people, most of them Palestinians, have died in the violence.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, are facing pressure from the United States to hold a peace summit within the next few days. President Clinton has spoken to both leaders by phone. However, following reports on Israeli TV that the President was about to travel to the region to convene an Israeli-Palestinian summit, officials in Washington said that there was no decision yet on whether the President or another US official would travel to the region. They said that a meeting remained an option despite Egypt's rejection on Tuesday of the idea of hosting such a summit.
The United Nations Secretary General and the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, have met the two sides in an attempt to defuse the crisis. Kofi Annan held a surprise meeting with Mr Barak this morning, following his earlier comment that neither side was blameless. He said that the important thing was to stop the violence and to get back to the negotiating table.
Pope John Paul has issued an urgent appeal for an end to the violence, saying that the loss of life and desecration of holy sites had anguished him greatly. The Pope made an historic trip to the Holy Land last March.
