The Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, are to meet at Gaza Airport tomorrow. The meeting has been postponed at least three times.
International pressure had been mounting on Israel to proceed with the talks, which are aimed at extending a fragile ceasefire announced last week.
Both sides have insisted on 48 hours of calm before the talks can go ahead. Three Palestinians and two Israelis have been killed since the fragile truce was declared last week.
Talks between Ariel Sharon and Jack Straw, which had been cancelled, are taking place tonight. The Israeli Prime Minister had cancelled the talks after Israel accused the British Foreign Secretary of making remarks that could be interpreted as justifying terrorism against Israelis.
However, it has been reported that following a telephone conversation between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mr Sharon it was agreed that the talks would take place.
It is understood that the rift was caused by a statement released by the British embassy in Tehran in Mr Straw's name last Sunday. The statement said that Mr Straw understood that one of the factors which helped breed terrorism was the anger which many people in the region felt at events over the years in Palestine.
In a separate development, a reconciliation visit to Syria by Yasser Arafat, scheduled for today, has been postponed again. A Syrian information official gave no reason for the postponement.
A visit by Mr Arafat to Damascus was postponed earlier this month because of the attacks on the United States. Ties between Mr Arafat and Syria deteriorated after he signed a landmark interim peace deal with Israel in 1993.
Damascus denounced it as depriving Palestinians of their basic rights. But relations started to improve after Bashar al-Assad took power last year.
