An Egyptian envoy yesterday urged the Palestinians to lead the way toward ending more than three years of violence with Israel, saying he is hopeful that Israel will respond favorably to such moves.

　　Egypt has been trying for weeks to get Palestinian militants to halt attacks against Israel to help restart peace talks. Osama el-Baz, a top aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, traveled to the Palestinian areas yesterday as part of those efforts.

　　El-Baz voiced some optimism after a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

　　"We are deeply concerned to get out of this problematic situation which threatens the whole region," he said. "What I heard from President Arafat makes me more hopeful for the future."

　　Israel and the United States accuse Arafat of fomenting terrorism and impeding truce efforts, and el-Baz did not give specifics on whether Arafat had made any concrete undertakings.

　　The Palestinians have refused to dismantle militant groups as required in the US-led "road map" peace plan - and their Egyptian-backed efforts to win a no-violence pledge from the militants have so far failed. Meanwhile, violence continues and Israel has not frozen settlements or carried out other road map obligations.

　　Yesterday, el-Baz urged the Palestinians to take an active role in improving the situation.

　　"We should set a good example. We, from our side, should take decisions and measures that can lead the way to a better future," el-Baz said. "Then, we hope the Israelis will do the same, because (resolving) the whole problem depends on the willingness of both sides."

　　Arafat, who has been confined to Ramallah for two years by Israeli troops, said only that they had discussed "the problems that we face as the Palestinian people."

　　A senior Palestinian official said there were growing concerns among the Palestinian leadership about Sharon's plan to unilaterally draw an Israeli-Palestinian partition line leaving the Palestinians with a fraction of the land they seek.