Israel has said it is suspending contact with the Palestinian Authority after Palestinian gunmen killed three Jewish settlers in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank yesterday.
Israeli officials also said some restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank that had been lifted in recent months would be re-imposed.
It comes as Israeli and Palestinian officials had been due to meet to prepare for a summit between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas.
The summit has already been postponed twice amid reports the two sides cannot agree on an agenda for talks.
The Palestinian militant group, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in which three settlers died and four others were wounded.
The group also claimed a further gun attack which happened minutes later in the Eli settlement. Two settlers were wounded in that attack.
