It's now reported more than 40 people have been injured, one seriously, in a car bomb attack in Israel. The explosion happened in the coastal town of Netanya, about 18 miles north of Tel Aviv. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has called a cabinet meeting to discuss the incidelnt. Earlier, at least four Palestinians, including two policemen, were killed in violence in the West Bank.
It's reported President Clinton has spoken by phone to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. A spokesman for Mr Arafat said Mr Clinton had raised the possibility of the Palestinian leader travelling to Washington, perhaps in the next 24 hours. Reports from Gaza say the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will leave overnight for Washington to meet President Clinton. Earlier, Mr Arafat said he expected a response soon to his request for clarification about Mr Clinton's proposals for a Middle east peace agreement. Mr Arafat was speaking in Gaza after retruning from talks in Egypt with President Mubarak.
In his New Year message, Pope John Paul urged all sides in the Middle East conflict to return to the road of peace. Addressing tens of thousands of people at St Peter's Square the Pope said that he hoped that all people and all nations would find peace and prosperity. This year's theme was dialogue between cultures and the Pope appealed to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume negotiations in the effort to achieve peace in the Holy Land.
Earlier it was reported that Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian policemen during a gun battle in the West Bank. And Jewish settlers killed a Palestinian near Jerusalem. Palestinian security sources said the policemen, aged 30 and 37, had been manning their outpost in Tulkarm. Some of the sources said the men had been shot repeatedly and beaten and that their guns were missing. Palestinians in Tulkarm had vowed to avenge what they called the assassination by Israel on Sunday of Thabet Thabet, a senior West Bank official in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Violence continued elsewhere in the Middle East overnight as gun battles raged in the West Bank and Gaza regions. Israeli army came under fire in numerous locations. A 4-year-old boy was reported to have been killed as a result of Israeli shelling in the area of Nablus. Palestinians reported that a villager had died from his wounds after being shot by Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is to meet the Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian President later today to encourage them to reach a peace accord. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reported to have called on Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat to meet with US President Bill Clinton at “the earliest possible” date, according to two Republican senators.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector told journalists that President Mubarak urged his US counterpart not to wait for acceptance from any party but to hold talks as soon as possible. The Egyptian President was noncommital on whether he would attend a meeting held before Mr Clinton leaves office on 20 January. Last week Egypt cancelled talks at Sharm el-Sheikh because of deadlock over the Clinton peace initiative.
