SPAIN/THE MIDDLE EAST: The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José Maria Aznar, has invited the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, to meet him next week in southern Spain. Spain holds the EU presidency; Mr Arafat is currently under a travel ban by the Israeli government but it may be lifted if there is a ceasefire.
The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday or Tuesday and a Spanish government spokesman said the two men would discuss the Saudi Arabian peace initiative. This proposes Arab recognition of Israel within its 1967 borders and an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.
Ceasefire talks resumed between Palestinian and Israeli security chiefs yesterday. The success or failure of the talks will also determine whether the US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, meets Mr Arafat in Cairo next week .
In the third suicide bombing in three days, a Palestinian man blew himself up at a military checkpoint in the West Bank. The US peace envoy, Gen Anthony Zinni, complained to Mr Arafat that he was not doing enough to prevent attacks and Israel has indicated it may still retaliate.
In contrast with their usual affable demeanour, a photo session before their talks saw Gen Zinni looking grim while Mr Arafat leaned his head on his left hand, apparently dejected.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militant radical group linked to Mr Arafat's Fatah organisation, admitted responsibility for yesterday's bomb. It had earlier claimed Thursday's blast in downtown Jerusalem which caused a session of the talks to be cancelled.
The US Department of State has added the Al-Aqsa group to its list of "Designated Foreign Terrorist Organisations" which already includes al-Qaeda and the "Real IRA".
The death toll in the Jerusalem blast was finally given as four people as well as an unborn child.
They were Gadi Shemesh (34) and his pregnant wife Tsipi Shemesh (32), who had just come from an ultra-sound examination when they were killed; Yitzhak Cohen (48), a clothing store salesman, father of six children and former settler who had moved back inside Israel because the West Bank was too dangerous; and the bomber himself, Mohammed Hashaika (22), a resident of the West Bank village of Talooza, north of Nablus.
A former Palestinian policeman, Hashaika had already tried two months ago to carry out an attack but was arrested at the time by Palestinian security forces. He was released from prison last week, after Israeli troops invaded the West Bank town of Ramallah where he was being held. It was said two of his cousins were killed in an Israeli missile attack.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian shepherd near Nablus and left his body in a rubbish dump, his relatives and other local sources claimed.
Israeli military sources said soldiers shot and killed a man in the area after spotting him planting an explosive device on a road leading to an army outpost. The dead man was named as Ayman Mohammed Khawaled (23).
Mr Arafat pledged after the Jerusalem bombing to take immediate steps to halt such attacks on Israeli civilians. He said the Palestinian leadership remained committed to making the US peace mission a success.
Gen Zinni is trying to secure agreement on a truce outlined by the Central Intelligence Agency director, Mr George Tenet, aimed at halting the violence which has killed at least 1,086 Palestinians and 355 Israelis.