The Palestinian leadership called for a one-year "demilitarisation" of the uprising Friday, while Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon continued to try to woo his left-wing rival into a national unity coalition.
Palestine Liberation Organisation number two Mr Mahmud Abbas, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mazen, said after meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov that "the Palestinian leadership has decided to demilitarise the intifada for one year".
He stopped short of clearly calling for an end to the armed struggle against Israeli occupation. But his wording implied an end to attacks not only against civilians inside Israel but also Jewish settlers and soldiers, going further than past calls by the Palestinian leadership.
Radical groups, including an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah, have repeatedly rejected truce calls from the leadership, but Israel has recently turned up the heat on hardliners. The army has been pounding the powerful Islamic Hamas group in its Gaza bastion and the daily Haaretz reported Friday that Israel would declare all-out war on the group if it did not abide by a truce reportedly presented at recent intra-Palestinian talks in Cairo.
Abu Mazen, a likely candidate for the newly-created position of Palestinian prime minister, said the truce could be a step towards implementation of a peace roadmap -- drawn up by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.
Mr Sharon, meanwhile, met with the Amram Mitzna for the third time tonight in a last-ditch bid to convince the Labour party leader -- who has consistently refused to compromise his dovish platform by entering a coalition -- to join a national unity government.
The premier's office said the talks lasted two hours and would resume after Shabbat on Saturday night, but commentators were pessimistic about their prospects for success.