Sharon will ignore unsigned concessions made by his predecessor

The incident came as Israeli soldiers and Palestinians clashed in Ramallah in the West Bank following an Israeli decision to cut the town off from other parts of the region with trenches and barricades.

Earlier, Israel's new prime minister, Ariel Sharon, wrote to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat asking for a meeting to renew the peace process and end violence in the region.

Mr Sharon was responding to a message from Mr Arafat congratulating him on his swearing-in as Israel's eleventh prime minister on Wednesday.

I hope we will soon have personal contacts to put an end to the cycle of violence and relaunch security and economic co-operation with a view to achieving real peace

Sharon's letter to Arafat

"I hope we will soon have personal contacts to put an end to the cycle of violence, the hostility and incitement to violence, and relaunch co-operation in security and the economic sphere with a view to achieving real peace," the message said, according to Mr Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gisson.

Violent clashes in Israel and the occupied territories during the past five months have claimed more than 420 lives, including nearly 350 Palestinians and 60 Israeli Jews.

Positive start

Few observers had believed the offer of a meeting between the two leaders would come so soon after Mr Sharon took office.

But BBC Jerusalem correspondent Hillary Andersson says there is no guarantee that talks will resume soon, given the political and practical difficulties facing Mr Arafat in ending Palestinian violence.

Sharon and Arafat have "met" but without shaking hands

The two men have met before, at the Wye River talks in 1998, but Mr Sharon, who was then foreign minister, made a point of not shaking Mr Arafat's hand.

In his congratulatory message, the Palestinian leader called for a resumption of negotiations "on the basis of signed agreements", an apparent softening of his line that they must continue from where they left off under former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The issue of unconditional peace talks could prove divisive for Israel's new "national unity" cabinet, some of whose members believe the fighting can only be stopped by talking first.

Mr Sharon's election has been widely criticised throughout the Arab world, where he is remembered for his role in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians civilians during his career as a soldier and as defence minister in the early 1980s.