There had been a dramatic change in the talks between the two sides in the last 24 hours, the sources said, adding, "The progress in the talks urged Suleiman to plan a visit to Tel Aviv to finalize the swap deal."

Suleiman would tell Israeli leaders that Hamas demands the release of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Gaza militants in June, media reports quoted Palestinian officials as saying.

The Egyptian mediator was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Olmert said Monday that Israel was ready to free the Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel, including those with heave sentence, if the captive Gilad Shalit was freed.

Palestinian sources said that "Israel agreed in principle to free Marwan al-Barghouti and Ahmed Sa'adat", both are the leading figures for the Palestinians.

Al-Barghouti, a senior leader of Fatah movement, was arrested by Israel in 2002, and Sa'adat, the chief of the Popular Front forthe Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was arrested from a Palestinian prison in Jericho several months ago.

Palestinian officials have repeatedly said a deal is close, but Israeli defense officials say the negotiations are far from over.

The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants in June sparked a comprehensive Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, which had engulfed the coastal area for five months before a vulnerable truce between the two sides took effect on Sunday.

The South African anti-Apartheid campaigner and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will travel to the Palestinian territory to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults," according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba.

Tutu chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of white rule.

Meanwhile, Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman has condemned as an "overwhelming failure" efforts to reform and replace the UN Commission on Human Rights - an organization widely criticized for concentrating its efforts on condemnations of Israel - calling its replacement a political tool of its Arab and Muslim majority.

The ADL said the new UN Human Rights Council has "ignored the world's worst human rights atrocities and instead has pursued Israel for political gain."

The 47-member council, which earlier this year replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission, has been severely criticized by some countries, including the United States, for moving four times to condemn Israel but not taking up human rights violations in Myanmar, North Korea or Sudan.

The Council has come under similar criticism from outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"From the day it opened for business, the UN Human Rights Council has never operated with any moral authority," Foxman said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"The Council has failed in its most fundamental purpose: to monitor human rights abuses in all parts of the world. Instead, it has become a political tool wielded by its Arab and Muslim members who have the power of an automatic majority. The Council has ignored the world's worst human rights atrocities and instead has pursued Israel for political gain."

Earlier this month, the Council condemned an IDF artillery attack that killed 20 civilians in the northern Gaza Strip and ordered an on-site investigation by UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour.

The organization made no reference to Palestinian Qassam attacks. But when Arbour visited the area last week, she and her party were nearly hit by a Qassam that slammed into the Negev town of Sderot, in a salvo that killed a local factory worker.

"Closing in on six months since its first meeting, the Council has held one regular session and three special sessions and has yet to address a single state besides Israel," the ADL said in the statement. "The Council passed two resolutions yesterday condemning Israel while ignoring other more pressing problems around the world."

U.S. President George W. Bush is under strong domestic pressure to talk to Syria and Iran in an effort to reduce sectarian violence and avert civil war in Iraq.

Speaking after a NATO summit in Latvia, Chirac said he was always in favour of dialogue in principle provided it led to results and was based on honesty and a commitment to carry out what was agreed.

"In the current state of affairs, this is not exactly the characteristic of the dialogue which some European countries have started with Syria. I deplore that," Chirac said.

"I understand that the American president's position is exactly the same as France's," Chirac said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem had accused Paris on Tuesday of trying to destabilize his country.

Hadley accused Syria of both supporting Hezbollah and trying to interfere in Lebanese politics, a year after it was forced to end its decades-long military presence.

"Here is Syria, which is clearly putting pressure on the Lebanese democracy, is a supporter of terror, is both provisioning and supporting Hezbollah and facilitating Iran in its efforts to support Hezbollah, is supporting the activities of Hamas," Hadley said during a visit to Riga alongside Bush for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.

"This is not a Syria that is on an agenda to bring peace and stability to the region, and I think Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert said, under those circumstances, with that kind of Syrian policy, how can you talk about negotiating on the Golan Heights? Seems to me that's a sensible position."

This was the first time an American official has come out publicly in such detail against the proposed negotiations.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has called on Israel numerous times to renew talks, but has simultaneously hinted that Syria would be willing to take military steps if talks did not succeed. Syria seeks the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. But peace talks between the two countries broke down in 2000.

Olmert has rejected the Syrian president's invitations for negotiations. The official Israeli position is that Syria must cease support of Palestinian terror organizations and Hezbollah guerrillas before renewed negotiations can be considered.

Fighting broke out in the city of Ramadi, considered a stronghold of the anti-US insurgency, after a US patrol discovered a roadside bomb in the Hamaniyah section of the city.

The military said that as the patrol worked to remove the bomb, two insurgents opened fire on them from the nearby house. The soldiers fired back with tanks and machine guns. When they later entered the house they found the bodies of the young girls. A sixth female was apparently also wounded but declined treatment.

Soldiers found the body of one man, presumed to have been one of two suspected insurgents running into the house. A statement from the US military said the body of the other man seen running into the house may have been removed by other fighters. "In a very tragic way, today reminds us that insurgents' actions throughout Iraq are felt by all," said the military spokesman Lt Col Bryan Salas. "Efforts are under way to offer available assistance to surviving family members."

The news comes after US government documents revealed that hundreds of private contractors have died in Iraq since the start of the occupation, with 10 British employees killed in the past two months.

US labour department officials have acknowledged that, since March 2003, 662 claims for compensation have been received from the relatives of contractors who have died working in Iraq.

While the documents, obtained during an investigation by Channel 4 News, provide an incomplete figure it does shed light on the largely unpublicised hazards facing those working in the industry. Some 48,000 private contractors work in Iraq, US officials say, double the number in 2005. Some are involved in reconstruction and logistical support, while others are engaged in security and escort work.

The death toll among Britons working in this industry has been particularly high in the past two months, surpassing that of British soldiers who have died during this period. Since 29 September, 10 British security contractors have died. A single attack caused a third of these losses. A roadside bomb hit a convoy operated by the security firm Erinys 20 miles east of Baghdad on 18 October. The British contractors Carl Ledden, 41; Noah Stephenson, 29, and Fraser Burnett were killed in the blast.

In an e-mail to a relativeweeks before his death, Mr Ledden, who worked protecting the US military, said he was unhappy about repeatedly travelling along the same route. "We are setting patterns here good-style and I wouldn't be surprised if we get hit," he wrote."

Erinys, which has contracts in Iraq protecting the American military, said: " Unfortunately, we are not in a position to comment whilst the incident is subject to a formal investigation, which is routine policy for all incidents involving our personnel."

Nick Paton Walsh's report will be shown at 7pm tonight on Channel 4 News