Israel and the Palestinians edged closer to resuming peace talks Sunday, with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying he will head negotiations personally and Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas saying he was ready to meet the Israeli rightwinger.

Israeli Labour leader Amram Mitzna meanwhile announced he was quitting his ailing leftist party's leadership, Israel media said.

In Ramallah, Abbas said in his first interview since being sworn into office last week he was ready to meet Sharon and crack down on illegal weapons, but insisted that Israel must lift its de facto siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Meanwhile violence flared anew, with a 13-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead and six injured in the West Bank city of Nablus when Israeli forces opened fire on stone-throwing youths. Three other people were injured by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip.

Sharon told ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting of his intention to personally head negotiations which are set to resume with a new US-led peace initiative, Israeli public radio said.

The radio added that a meeting was imminent between Sharon and Abbas, whom Israel sees as a pragmatic moderate ready to demilitarise the bloody Palestinian intifada.

Abbas' new security chief,

Mohammed Dahlan, has already initiated contacts to enable the two leaders to meet, Palestinian sources said.

Sharon met Sunday with Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz at the weekly cabinet session to discuss security issues with the Palestinians.

The move toward resuming talks, which broke down around 18 months ago amid rising violence, came as US Middle East envoy William Burns arrived in Israel to meet officials from both Israel and the Palestinian administration ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Powell is making visits to the region for a new peace push after the Iraq war.