UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is set to embark on a new Middle East peace initiative as the death toll from Israeli-Palestinian clashes rises.
Annan said in New York Friday that he would consult with Israelis and Palestinians about sending observers to halt the bloodshed that has claimed more than 240 lives.
Annan told council members his first priority was to stop the violence.
"I appeal to the Israelis to use non-lethal methods of riot control and I appeal to the Palestinians to do all they can to stop the violence," he said.
Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were represented at the briefing, which was restricted to the 15 council members.
Annan had earlier met members of the UN Security Council, who asked him -- in the words of the British representative, Jeremy Greenstock -- "to start the process of breaking the stalemate between the two sides."
The Palestinians have proposed the setting up of a 2,000-strong UN protection force, a bid which stood no chance of surviving a US veto in the Security Council.
Israel has repeatedly objected to any international protection force.
Annan's new peace initiative came on another day of bloodshed in the occupied territories.
The deadly violence raged on in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, claiming at least four Palestinian lives and leaving nearly 100 others injured.
The levels of violence appeared undiminished despite a call from Yasser Arafat for Palestinians to stop shooting.
"We try with all of our efforts to prevent any person of our people to shoot from our areas, and this is a clear order from the High Security Council," the Palestinian leader said.
His comments raised cautious hopes that a halt to the seven weeks of fighting was in the making, amid the diplomatic moves by the United Nations to stem the bloodshed.
But the Israeli army bristled at Arafat's statement.
"I said it is manipulation. He manipulates the situation," said General Giora Eiland, Israeli operations commander.
Eiland said the order "'don't shoot from our territory,'" was ambiguous.
"Does this mean that there is a permission to continue shooting from the other areas? Otherwise, why was this distinction required? This is a very obvious question."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak also issued a lukewarm response.
"Israel is waiting for acts and not words," Barak said.
"Arafat will not obtain anything by violence," he added, according to a statement released by his office.
Later, Barak said peace talks could resume when there is a "significant reduction in violence."
There was little evidence of that happening, On Friday night, an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian were wounded in clashes between the Gaza Strip Jewish settlement of Netzarim and Karni, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.
Meanwhile three Palestinian girls were wounded, two of them seriously, after being caught by Israeli fire in the Lafar Darom area, hospital sources said.
Friday's killings brought the death toll from the violence to 241, the large majority of them Palestinians.
The Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Nasser al-Kidwa, nevertheless told reporters on Friday that he intended to press ahead with a draft resolution asking the council for "approximately 2,000 unarmed military observers."
"We believe that the draft should now constitute a base for serious discussions among the members of the Security Council," he said.
"We will listen of course to the ideas of other parties but in all cases we hope this exercise will be a quick one. The situation on the ground requires speedy action by the council," he said – JERUSALEM (AFP)
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