UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has written to his Israeli counterpart about the ban on Palestinian officials attending talks in London.

Downing Street said Mr Blair was explaining the importance of the talks in his letter to Ariel Sharon.

Mr Sharon's government imposed the travel ban after suicide bombers killed 23 people in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

The measures adopted by the (Israeli) government are not intended against the UK Government Tzvi Shtauber Israeli Ambassador

The new letter comes after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw clashed over the telephone with Israel's foreign minister about the decision.

The conference was to have involved representatives from America, the European Union, the United Nations, Jordan and Egypt.

Mounting tension

But it has been dismissed by Mr Netanyahu as "some publicity stunt abroad".

Mr Netanyahu was refused a meeting with Mr Blair on a recent visit to London in what has been as a sign of worsening UK-Israeli relations.

Amid such tensions, a transcript of a phone conversation between Mr Straw and his opposite number, Benjamin Netanyahu, was published by the Israeli embassy on Monday.

According to the transcript, Mr Netanyahu told Mr Straw that the suicide bombings precluded "business as usual".

He then urged the UK foreign secretary to adopt the same position as President George W Bush "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace".

Preventing peace?

Mr Netanyahu added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite."

That apparently drew a sharp reply from Mr Straw who is said to have replied: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite.

"Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates."

The row comes ahead of a meeting between Mr Blair and the leader of Israel's opposition Labour Party, Amram Mitzna, which is scheduled for Thursday in Downing Street.

With an election pending in Israel there was said to be anger in the rival ruling Likud camp over talks between the two men.

Mr Straw earlier "utterly and completely" condemned the attack but argued that it emphasised the need to get people around the negotiating table.

'Not constructive'

On Tuesday, the Israeli Ambassador to London, Tzvi Shtauber, insisted Israel still valued its close relations with the UK.

He thanked the British government for its efforts to pave the way for new peace talks.

Mr Shtauber told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "The measures adopted by the (Israeli) government are not intended against the UK Government."

Instead, he said the latest atrocities in Tel Aviv could not be overlooked.

The London conference is partly aimed at looking at how the Palestinian Authority can be reformed.

But Mr Shtauber said: "We think it is not constructive that Yasser Arafat could nominate the people that should deal with the reforms of the government of Yasser Arafat.

"I would guess that if you want to reform the regime in Iraq, you wouldn't invite the envoys of Saddam Hussein, would you?"