Ahead of planned Mid- East peace talks in Washington, the Palestinians complained that US mediation has been ineffective and demanded that the European Union, Russia and the United Nations be asked join the talks.
Israel, meanwhile, said the Palestinians have been violating the latest truce meant to end more than five weeks of bloodshed.

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on several Israeli enclaves overnight, including the Nahal Elisha army outpost near the West Bank town of Jericho. At the time of the shooting, the Army Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Shaul Mofaz, was addressing soldiers in Nahal Elisha.
Mofaz said that Israel has kept its part in the truce agreement, negotiated last week by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel`s elder statesman, Shimon Peres, but that the Palestinians have not.
Arafat, meanwhile, renewed a demand for international protection. “I am asking for quick international forces to protect US, to stop this war, the massacres against our people,” Arafat said in an interview with the CBS TV on Sunday.
The Palestinians say the violence was triggered by the September 28 visit of Israel`s hawkish opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, to major Jerusalem shrine revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Bureau Report