Israel, Palestinians agree to resume security meetings

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov during their talks in Moscow.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resume security meetings, with the Palestinians saying the first meeting will take place Tuesday night.

The agreement to resume security contacts came after U.S. envoy William Burns shuttled between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .

Arafat arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Russia, which has been eager to increase its diplomatic role in the region, will send a special envoy to the Middle East as early as next week, Ivanov said.

"We speak in the same voice with the United States because Washington, too, is interested to stop the spiraling of tension and normalizing the situation in the region. It is important not only that we speak in the same voice but that we also act in coordination with one another which Russia is in favor of," said Ivanov.

AUDIO CNN's Sheila MacVicar on what U.S. diplomacy hopes to achieve 347K/32 sec. AIFF or WAV sound U.S. diplomat William Burns: U.S. condemns terrorist attacks 455K/42 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.    ALSO 2 journalists kidnapped, freed in 'message' to U.S., Britain

The diplomatic activity comes amid more violence on the ground.

Israel said someone planted a bomb on a road leading to a settlement. In response, Israel shelled a Palestinian police station, injuring five policemen.

On the West Bank, an Israeli settler was killed in a Palestinian shooting, Israeli authorities said. Israeli settlers poured into the streets of Hebron in response, throwing stones.

Sharon, speaking to CNN, said that a second Israeli also had died in Tuesday's violence.

Arafat said the Palestinians welcome "all efforts aimed at bringing peace because if we don't act quickly, there will be an explosion, not only in Palestine, but the whole region."

Burns has been attempting -- so far unsuccessfully -- to get both sides to agree to a timetable for the implementation of recommendations of the Mitchell report.

That report, which Israel has also accepted, calls for an end to hostilities, a series of confidence-building steps and the ultimate resumption of peace talks.

It calls on the Palestinians to crack down on what it called "terrorism." It also calls on Israel to freeze Jewish settlement expansion.