Paris talks

Annan said he wants to urge the two leaders to do all they can to rein in their forces. Annan did not say whether he would meet Barak and Arafat before or after their scheduled talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Annan's comments came on a day when Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers defied a cease-fire agreement and fought near Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, West Bank, following the funeral of a victim of earlier violence. In another gun battle near Netzarim, soldiers backed by attack helicopters fought hundreds of Palestinians. Despite mutual recriminations, Arafat's and Barak's agreement to attend the talks in Paris and in Egypt have signaled a willingness to continue working toward a negotiated peace. They have held talks only once since their Camp David summit with U.S.President Bill Clinton last July failed to produce an agreement to end 52 years of conflict. The U.N. Security Council agreed to hold a debate Tuesday on the Mideast violence, and will hear first from the Palestinian U.N. observer, followed by Israel, the 15 council members, Egypt and South Africa.