Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman went is holding talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and premier Mahmud Abbas today as part of a bid to broker a truce between radical militants and Israel.
Palestinian information minister Nabil Amr said Suleiman's visit was aimed at "promoting a truce", in a bid to boost the implementation of the roadmap for peace.
But his visit comes a day after Israel tried and failed to assassinate Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, the political leader of the hardline Islamist movement Hamas.
Hamas issued a statement demanding Abbas' government freeze all contacts with Israel and ruling out any ceasefire arrangement.
In his closing statement at the end of the Israeli-Palestinian-US summit at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on June 4, Abbas called on radical groups to end the armed intifada and described their operations as "terrorism".
AFP