The US-led fact-finding committee inquiring into the deadly tide of recent Israeli-Palestinian violence resumed its work today. Israel accused the Palestinians of having planned the uprising.
The commission, headed by former US senator George Mitchell, met for the first time officials of Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's two-week government and will later meet Palestinian leader President Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile Mr Sharon is due to meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at United Nations headquarters to discuss the situation.
This comes a day after President Bush told Mr Sharon the new US administration will not try to "force peace" on Israel and the Palestinians.
In its submission to the panel Israel claimed the Palestinian intifada was planned rather than a spontaneous response to Mr Sharon's visit to a disputed holy site in Jerusalem in September while he was still opposition leader.
It said Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority "instigated, orchestrated and directed the violence."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told reporters after meeting the five-member panel that Israel - which is accused by Palestinians and human rights groups of using excessive force to quell the uprising - was only reacting to "terror."
"As I understood it the purpose of the committee is not to find someone to be blamed but to look for ways how to save the situation from falling apart and being victimised by violence and terror," he said.
Mr Mitchell said the committee, which first visited the region in December after its creation at a summit in Egypt in September, had yet to reach any conclusions. AFP