Israeli forces killed six Palestinians on Wednesday, one in a planned missile attack on his home, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair began a regional peace shuttle with a rebuff from Syria.
Britain is backing the US effort to calm the Middle East conflict and so bolster Arab support for its war on terrorism. But the cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which has claimed more than 800 lives in the past 13 months, continued unabated.
Mr Blair, due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat tomorrow, received a sharp rebuke from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to his request that Mr Assad help rein in Palestinian militants.
Mr Sharon said today he was ready to negotiate, telling a visiting delegation of Jewish leaders: "I am going to lead all negotiations because I really believe in that.
"But for me peace should be peace for generations. It should be peace that will provide the Jewish people with security." Mr Sharon has said in the past he would be willing to return to peace negotiations which stalled last year only after the year-old Palestinian uprising against Israel ends.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Israeli television that he had written the draft of a Middle East peace initiative, a step which risks opening a new rift with Mr Sharon. The two are meeting this evening to discuss the plan.
Mr Sharon and Mr Peres, sporadically at odds in their coalition government, were also poised for fresh disagreement over a possible weekend meeting in Spain between the foreign minister and Mr Arafat.
A source in Mr Sharon's office said the prime minister was opposed to such a meeting, which would take place at an economic conference on the island of Majorca on November 2-3.
At least 686 Palestinians and 182 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising erupted.