Israeli, Palestinian Officials Meet
The meeting took place during one of the longest stretches without an Israeli fatality since fighting broke out between Israel and the Palestinians in September 2000. However, Israel continues to arrest would-be attackers and has taken control of seven of eight major West Bank cities and towns, enforcing curfews and hunting down militants.

On Monday, during a break in the curfew in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, several thousand Palestinians attended the funeral of 9-year-old Shukri Daoud, who died after suffering critical head injuries June 27, when Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinians who had violated the curfew.

Daoud's body, his head still wrapped in white bandages, was carried through the streets of Qalqilya on a stretcher amid shouts of ``Allahu Akbar!'' or ``God is great.''

Israel admitted its forces ``acted improperly'' in firing on Daoud and two other children who were injured that day. The shooting heightened Palestinian frustration with the takeover of the main population centers, which Israel says is necessary to prevent attacks.

The high-level talks were to focus on ways to ease the frustrations and burdens faced by about 700,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank under Israeli military control, an Israeli government official said Monday.

During 21 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence, high-level meetings between the two sides have been rare. Peres, who represents the dovish Labor Party in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition government, has pressed for contacts despite the fighting, but Sharon, who heads the hawkish Likud, has insisted there can be no negotiations until Palestinian terror attacks stop.

However, after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reshuffled his Cabinet a month ago, Peres pressed for and received permission to talk with some of the five new ministers Arafat appointed, including Fayed and Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh.

Sharon insisted the talks be confined to economic and humanitarian issues, not political matters. Dori said the meeting was limited to economic concerns, but he gave no further details about the talks.

Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the meeting wouldn't accomplish anything and represented another attempt by Israel to change the Palestinian leadership by meeting only with newly appointed ministers.

Palestinians said ministers from the two governments last met in March, before a series of Palestinian suicide bombings led to a major Israeli invasion of the West Bank that lasted six weeks. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it did not know the last time Cabinet ministers held face-to-face talks.

Israel's army launched its latest incursion into Palestinian cities after attacks that killed 31 Israeli civilians from June 18-20. Since then, more than 30 Palestinians have been killed, but no Israelis.
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