"We are justifiably sceptical. Nothing has happened yet and we do not know if these roadblocks are important or peripheral ... If it is true then it will be too little too late. The only thing that will help Mahmoud Abbas is serious substantive measures accompanied by a serious and substantive peace process," she said.

There are some 500 checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank. They range from busy crossing points into towns such as Ramallah to unmanned barriers that force Palestinians to take long detours.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government approved plans for a settlement to be built in the West Bank for about 30 families. The decision appears to break commitments to stop settlement expansion.

Although Israel declared it remained committed to the truce, the decision to strike against rocket launchers clearly raises the level of violence.

It could also undermine Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent efforts to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in a standoff with Hamas. The Islamic militant group controls the Palestinian parliament and cabinet.

"The defence establishment has been instructed to take pinpoint action against the rocket-launching cells," Olmert's office said after a morning meeting of senior officials.

"At the same time, Israel will continue to abide by the cease-fire."

Palestinian rockets fired despite deal

Palestinian militants violated the truce less than an hour after it took effect on Nov. 26, and by the military's count, have launched more than 60 rockets at southern Israel since then.

Israel has so far refrained from responding, but Olmert had warned in recent days that his patience was wearing thin. The injuries of the two boys late Wednesday left Olmert little choice.

Olmert has come under intense pressure from residents of Sderot, political opponents and members of his own cabinet to take action against the rockets. Most of the crude weapons have been launched by Islamic Jihad, a radical group backed by Iran that does not participate in Palestinian politics.

At least seven rockets exploded in Israel on Tuesday. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for all of them.

Truce designed to end months of fighting

The truce ended five months of deadly fighting that followed an attack by Hamas-linked gunmen on an Israeli army post just outside Gaza. Two soldiers were killed and another was captured in that raid, and Israel retaliated by sending ground troops, artillery and aircraft to strike at militants and their rocket squads.

But the incursions failed to stop the rocket fire or win the release of the soldier. When Abbas, a moderate who favours peace talks, persuaded militant factions to agree to a truce, Olmert agreed to pull Israeli forces out of Gaza.

Israel's policy of renewed retaliation could undo progress toward bolstering Abbas against his Hamas rivals. Olmert and Abbas met on Saturday for their first working meeting, and Olmert pledged to ease restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza as a gesture to the Palestinian president.

Renewed violence could delay or shelve those plans.

Egypt to host peace summit talks

In other efforts to push forward with peace efforts, Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are to meet Jan. 4 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Israeli officials said.

Egypt has played a major role in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians, and has been trying to negotiate the release of the captured Israeli soldier.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was meeting Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday to help prepare for next week's summit.

And in an attempt to end the deadly tensions between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah, Jordan has invited Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to Amman.

Talks between the rivals over forming a national unity government broke down last month, and Abbas has threatened to call early elections to end the impasse. The tensions erupted into factional fighting that has killed 17 people this month.

Haniyeh and Abbas have both accepted the invitation to Jordan. The date of the meeting has not been publicized.

After a medical team tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him, a Magen David Adom doctor pronounced him dead. A preliminary investigation revealed that Weisgan had not previously shown any signs of suicidal tendencies to his jailers.

Weisgan, 38, of Shvut Rachel neat Shiloh, was convicted on September 27 in the Jerusalem District Court of shooting and killing four Palestinian civilians in the area in an attempt to scuttle Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip last year.

He had also subsequently called for the assassination of former prime minister Ariel Sharon.

The court also ordered Weisgan to pay NIS 228,000 to each of the families of the four victims, and another NIS 100,000 to the man he wounded, in an unusual court-ordered monetary penalty for a murder case.

A driver who transported Palestinian laborers, Weisgan grabbed a gun from a security guard at the end of the work day last August, and then opened fire at the workers in his car at close range, killing three instantly and mortally wounding a fourth, who died later at a Jerusalem hospital.

The four-page charge sheet called the shooting rampage near Shiloh 'cold-blooded and premeditated' murder.

The indictment said the attacker sprayed five or six bullets at each of his victims, whom he knew well, at one point even refilling his spent cartridge as he sought out his last victim.

Weisgan then went after a fifth victim back at work, the indictment read, repeatedly shooting him at close range and then verifying he was dead before finally turning himself in to a settlement security guard.

Abdallah said that in light of the current situation Israel must decide whether or not it wishes to remain isolated.

"The Arab countries are very interested in moving the peace process along, and this conveys a message to the Israelis: If we advance the peace process and implement a two-state solution, all the Arab and Muslim countries will agree to establish (diplomatic) relations with Israel," he said.

'Must change policy in Middle East'

During the Interview Abdullah warned of the rise in extremism in the Middle East, which, according to him, may lead to the weakening of the peace camp and the moderate elements.

"Therefore, we must change the policy in the Middle East, or else people will only here extremist views," he said. "In the past, there were 8 to 10 year intervals between conflicts, but now this has dropped to 10 to 12 months, and may I remind you that we are expecting three civil wars in 2007 (in the Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Lebanon).

Turning his attention to the Iranian threat, the Jordanian king said, "There is no doubt that Iran is a major player in the region and should be incorporated into the process.

"If we advance the process in one arena, we will be able to do the same in other arenas as well," he said. "Today the Arab street is drawn more the extremists and extremist rhetoric and less to moderates speaking of peace and co-existence."

Abdullah summed up the interview by saying that the only way to fight the radicalization in the region is through education.

"The next step is to get to the streets, the schools, the homes. This is not a process that could take place over night. In certain places this process could take 15-20 years, but eventually the moderate majority must decide - does it want to sit quietly, or does it plan to act against the horrible crimes committed in the name of religion?"

The right-wing activists even mentioned in the leaflet that they don't want to expose the children of the region to heavy damage to their psyches and property that will likely be caused "because of the legitimate desire of the Balestinian (sic) nation to free the occupied lands of Balestine (sic), and to end the continued suffering that the Zionist occupation causes residents and children of the refugee camps."

The leaflet was signed by the right-wing activists in the name of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades: "At this stage, we will not hinder you from going to the settlement of Eilat. We promise not to damage this settlement until further notice."

Yoav Kahane, chairman of the "Orange Youth" in the south, explained that the leaflets were distributed because the government "has been stricken with complete blindness. The government wants to release Palestinian prisoners while the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades continue shooting at Sderot."

Israeli troops surrounded the house of Ahmad Abu Hadu, 17, in Aida Refugee camp. They searched and ransacked it, then took Hadu to an unknown detention camp, his family reported. Also troops attacked other houses in the camp and took Mohamed Al Radi, 17, and Mahmod Harz-Allah, 16, as prisoners. Farhan Rashidah, 21, was abducted when Israeli troops attacked residents' houses in the nearby Al Rashidah village.

In the meantime another Israeli force attacked and searched residents' houses in Al Khadier village south of Bethlehem city. Before leaving, soldiers abducted Ali Salah, 19. Hhis father said that soldiers surrounded the house, forced the family into one room, searched the house, took his son, and left. The army gave no reason for their action, the father added.

Moreover also in the southern West Bank, in the city of Hebron, Israeli forces attacked residents' houses, searched them, and abducted four Palestinian men from the city while another two were taken from Yatta and Ithna villages south of Hebron. Local sources identified the six detained as: Fadile Abu I'ram, 39, from Yatta village; Arafat Al Natah, 27, from Ithna village; and Othman Al Qumiri, 30, Mu'aied Al Muhtasep, 21, Mohmaed Fanunah, 39, and Anas Laban, 26, all from Hebron city.

Four Palestinian men were abducted by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank city of Nablus during a pre-dawn invasion to the city.

Local sources identified the four as Khalil Khalil Abu Ja'ssa, 20, Mohamed Abd Al Hak, 22, Mohamed Khalbus, 18, and Ahmad Abu Salha, 22. All were moved to unknown detention camps. More that 20 Israeli military vehicles entered the city. They surrounded the town of Nablus, searched houses, took the four men, and left the city, eyewitnesses reported.

Kamal Saleh and Mohamed Wathik, both from the village of Al Araka, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, were abducted by the Israeli army during an invasion to the village on Wednesday at dawn. Residents reported that soldiers stormed the village, attacked scores of residents' houses, then took the two to an unknown destination.

Israeli army spokesperson told Israeli media that those abductions on Wednesday in the West Bank were of men whom the army calls "Wanted Palestinians".

Many analysts believe that the demographic issue has increasingly become a key factor in Israeli politics this year, a thing that has prompted former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to evacuate 8,000 Israeli Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and order construction of thousands of housing units in major West Bank settlements.

Population growth in the Hebrew state is 1.2 per cent annually, while that in the occupied Palestinian territories is 3.94.

Since the late 1980s the Jewish population has increased to over one million, as the migration from Russia and the Eastern Bloc countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union had decreased by 22 percent this year.

The Jewish Agency along with the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization, formed five years ago, said it helped 10,000 North American Jews to immigrate to Israel over the past five years.

Since 1967, Israel has been constructing Jewish settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, housing more than 240,000 settlers. Yesterday, the Israeli government endorsed a new settlement in the Ghour area of West Bank under the pretext of housing settlers of the Gaza Strip evacuated settlement of Ghosh Qatif.