Israel, PA meet to calm incitement

Speaking to reporters after the meeting in his Jerusalem office, Shalom said the issue of incitement -- which is included in the international "roadmap" for peace -- was of "supreme importance".

"A strategic decision is needed to abandon the language of hate and struggle, and to educate towards understanding and coexistance," he said.

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Shalom, who had repeatedly blamed the Palestinian Authority for failing to tackle the issue of incitement in school textbooks and the media, acknowledged on Monday that progress had been made.

"I am pleased that in recent days we have seen a measure of positive change in the degree of anti-Israeli incitement and hatred," Shalom said.

Nabil Amr said working groups would meet on a regular basis to "define incitement and its manifestations."

The steering committee was one of several created following a meeting last week between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas.

Reuters adds: Palestinian security forces said Monday they had arrested a Palestinian woman from the Gaza Strip who was planning a suicide bombing in Israel, an attack that could have wrecked a truce bolstering a Middle East peace plan.

Israel has made clear further withdrawal from Palestinian territory under the plan would depend on Palestinian forces preventing attacks from areas in Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem that were transferred to their control last week.