UN chief Kofi Annan was due in Israel on late Sunday, leading off a new round of high-level international efforts to revive the Middle East peace process. His visit comes as the Israeli government decided to dismantle 24 settlement outposts that have sprung up in the West Bank since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to power in March 2001, according to public radio.
The move - a key requirement of the moribund Middle East roadmap peace plan - will see just under a quarter of the 105 West Bank outposts detailed in a recent government report uprooted.
Washington and the Palestinian Authority have repeatedly called on Israel to dismantle all West Bank outposts, although Palestinian ministers reserved judgement.
Annan was to hold talks with Sharon in Jerusalem later Sunday before travelling to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Monday.
He will be among more than 30 heads of state, ministers and dignitaries expected to converge on Jerusalem in the next 48 hours for the opening of a new museum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The diplomacy follows days of bickering with the Palestinians accusing Israel of dragging its feet over confidence-building gestures and Israel blaming the Palestinian Authority of not doing enough to hunt down militants.
But his first interview with Israeli public television, Abbas again condemned attacks against Israel and reiterated his determination to crush violence.
"The Palestinian Authority does not want such attacks, we reject them and will suppress them if they rear up," said Abbas, just over two weeks since a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in Tel Aviv killing five Israelis.
On the sidelines of the Yad Vashem opening, visiting officials will meet Sharon, Abbas and Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei in talks likely to focus on maximising the potential since last month's landmark Middle East peace summit in Egypt.
An Israeli foreign ministry official said although the focus would be on Yad Vashem, visiting leaders would take advantage of the visit to take stock of developments on the Israeli-Palestinian front.
"No one is coming here to discuss new measures, but yes there will be political discussions assessing the situation and taking stock given that we are living a new situation," the official said.
The international community has remained upbeat on the chances of peace since Sharon and Abbas declared an end to four years of violence in Egypt and a moderate Palestinian leadership emerged following the death of Yasser Arafat.
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