Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are expected to meet American mediators in Washington this evening in a new attempt to revive the stalled Middle East peace process. The US State Department said that the Israeli Foreign Minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, and a Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, will hold parallel, bilateral discussions with US mediators, followed possibly by discussions involving all three sides. The diplomatic offensive may be President Clinton's last chance to reach a Middle East peace accord before his successor, George W Bush, takes office on 20 January.
As attempts begin again in Washington to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, one of the possible candidates in the race to be Israel's Prime Minister has suffered what could be a decisive setback. The demand by the former right wing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for a general election, as well as a prime ministerial one, has been rejected by - the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, one of the main political parties in the Knesset.
Shas is, however, supporting a bill that would allow private citizens, such as Mr Netanyahu, to stand in the special prime ministerial election which was forced by Ehud Barak's resignation last week in the face of the 11-week-old Palestinian uprising.
Earlier, two Palestinian schoolchildren were wounded when a group of Jewish settlers opened fire on their school in the Northern West Bank town of Huwara. School officials said that the settlers arrived in three cars at the secondary school in Huwara, south of Nablus, and opened fire.
