The deteriorating situation in the Middle East is set to dominate talks between foreign ministers of the G8 nations in Rome Wednesday as they prepare for a summit in the Italian city of Genoa.
Ministers from the Group of Eight nations -- United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy Japan and Russia -- will strive for a common position in light of the escalating violence between the Israelis and Palestinians which has all but killed off a US-brokered ceasefire, in place since June 13.
Israel killed four Palestinians in an air raid on Bethlehem Tuesday that destroyed a house packed with women and children and raised talk that their bitter conflict was moving a step closer to war.
The mid-afternoon helicopter assault killed at least two militants from the radical Hamas movement and wounded 14 people, including a young girl who lost her arm, hospital sources said.
Washington reiterated its call for restraint, with State Department spokesman Philip Reeker saying it was "within the power of the parties to bring the level of the violence down."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called on the G8 leaders, who start their three-day summit in the Italian port city of Genoa on Friday -- to take the initiative to "preserve the peace process.”
The G8 foreign ministers were set to meet Wednesday afternoon at the Villa Madama, near Rome, with a second session planned for Thursday.
The Italian presidency has put international crises at the top of the agenda.
Besides the Middle East, the ministers will also discuss the situation in the Balkans and Macedonia. The issue of non-proliferation and the US missile defense shield scheme, opposed by Russia, will also be discussed.
Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero will also seek to raise the question of globalization and a dialogue with its opponents, tens of thousands of whom are expected in Genoa.
Before the formal meetings Wednesday, several bilateral talks have been organized.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, before a meeting with Ruggiero.
Ivanov will also hold bilateral talks with his British counterpart Jack Straw and Japan's Makiko Tanaka.
According to Moscow, there will also be an informal meeting of the international contact group on the former Yugoslavia.
The contact group includes all G8 members except Japan and Canada.
Russia is fiercely critical of NATO's action in the Balkans. They denounce the armed intervention in Kosovo as "international terrorism" while deeming the Western stance on ethnic Albanians fighting in Macedonia to be to weak -- ROME (AFP) -
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