Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has lifted a ban on contacts with new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas imposed last week after six Israelis were killed in a Gaza border ambush.
Israeli Army Radio said the decision taken at a meeting of Mr Sharon's inner cabinet meant that senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials would meet this evening.
Mr Abbas met both security chiefs and leaders of the Hamas militant group overnight in the shadow of a suicide bombing that underscored the difficulties he faces in persuading militants to halt violence in a four-year-old uprising against Israel.
He is caught between the militants and Israeli demands for a stop to attacks as a condition for peace talks. Israel cut ties after a deadly assault at the border last week.
After meeting Mr Abbas in Gaza, public security chief Major-General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh said an "arrangement is under way to deploy national security forces on the borders within two days to prevent violations." Mr Abbas ordered his security forces on Monday to prevent anti-Israeli violence.
In the latest attack, a suicide bomber from Hamas killed an agent of Israel's Shin Bet security service and wounded seven other Israelis in a blast at any army checkpoint near the Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Mr Abbas met leaders of the Islamic group to try to persuade them to put down arms.
"Calm was one of the points raised in the meeting within the framework of stabilising the Palestinian situation. We have listened to Abu Mazen (Mr Abbas) and we will study the issue within the movement," said Mr Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
"Both sides expressed their mutual interest to achieve the interests of our people and maintain national unity," he said. "Further meetings are expected in coming days."
In the West Bank, a leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group in Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, pledged to halt attacks inside Israel but said it would continue to strike at Israelis in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian security forces will deploy to the Gaza Strip's borders with Israel within days to enforce Mr Abbas's order to halt militant attacks, their top commander said today.