Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qurei, within 10 days, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday.

Qurei's Cabinet was sworn in Wednesday after the Palestinian prime minister and Yasser Arafat made conciliatory speeches calling for an end to three years of fighting and a renewal of stalled peace talks.

"The first thing that will happen is a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Abu Ala (Qurei). This is expected within 10 days in my opinion," Shalom told Israel's Army Radio.

According to media reports, Sharon will meet with Queri after he returns from a trip to Italy, planned for early next week.

"If Abu Ala will lead the towards peace and towrads an end to the violence then Israel will be ready to go a long way," Shalom said.

The PA cabinet is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Israeli government officials downplayed speeches by Arafat and Qurei, saying Israel is interested in actions, not words.

"Our only interest is what happens on the ground," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin. "We are not interested in what Arafat says, but what Abu Alla [Qurei] will do. What he does to fight the terror infrastructure and dismantle the terrorist organizations will determine whether we move forward on the road map."

Gissin said the composition of the Palestinian cabinet is an internal Palestinian issue. He said Sharon is willing to meet with Qurei to "see if we can restart the process where it was stopped by Arafat and the terrorists."

Gissin said Israel will "do whatever we can to assist and help the Palestinian population which finds itself in dire conditions. But this can't go very far if the PA doesn't take real measures to stop the terrorism."

Among the steps Israel is believed to be considering to help Qurei establish himself is to halt targeted killings, transfer additional West Bank cities to PA control, and remove some of the unauthorized settlement outposts.

Palestinian officials welcomed statements by Israeli officials who said they would give Qurei a chance to show he is serious about implementing law and order and said Sharon was ready to meet with Qurei anytime. A PA source said these statements might indicate that Israel is now ready to come towards the Palestinians and ease restrictions on the ground.

"Abu Ala's priority is to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel and move forward on the reform process, for that reason he has moved the reform committee to the Prime Minster's office", a Palestinian aid said. One of his priorities will be the reform of the judicial system so that any measures to implement law and order will have public backing, the aid explained.

"Nobody takes what Arafat says seriously"

Speaking to the session of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah on Wednesday, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat accused Israel of launching a deadly attack against the Palestinian leadership.

Arafat said Israel is pursuing a "dangerous aim" in the region and was building a "new Berlin Wall" around the West Bank.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry official said, "Nobody takes what Arafat says seriously. His comments are not worthy of response."

A large part of Arafat's speech was directed at Israeli public opinion. Contrary to the "lies which had been spread," he said, he does want peace and recognizes Israel's right to co-exist alongside a sovereign and independent Palestinian nation. Arafat reiterated the opposition to violence and hinted at his support for the Geneva peace proposal.

However, Arafat began a vicious diatribe against the "criminal war" of Ariel Sharon 's government, by covering the usual gambit of accusations against Israel: the violation of sacred Muslim and Christian shrines, the use of depleted uranium by the IDF, certain "gaseous bombs", and the withholding by Israel of Palestinian tax funds.

"The Temple Mount and all other sacred places, Christian and Muslim, are being violated by the Israelis. They have not stopped at this. Our brothers and sisters in Hebron, and Bethlehem are suffering unbearable violations of their holy places, including the Church of the Nativity which was violated and closed," Arafat told the gathering of Palestinian legislators.

Arafat's speech gathered more pace and vehemence as he spoke about "the craziness of settlements in Palestinian villages, and the racist barrier wall, and the crazy settlement expansion."

"This has never happened unto any other people before. This is the criminal Israeli war to attempt to uproot the Palestinian people and to impose settlement and settlers on our land and to prevent us from establishing our independent state with its capital in Jerusalem," Arafat continued.

"Since the time of the prophets, this land has been blessed for all people, not only for one people. We say this : while our people are facing siege and transgression in every camp and every village; and facing the usage of the internationally banned weapons like depleted uranium and other gaseous bombs which are also banned; we will not lie down and give up. "

'Backing up' his claims that Israel was using depleted uranium and "gaseous bombs", Arafat held up a thin wad of paper which he claimed was a report by American and Dutch observers 'proving' that banned weapons were used against the Palestinians.

Talking about Israel's security fence, which is intended by the Israelis to block the passage of Palestinian suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israeli territory, Arafat said Israel was building a "new Berlin Wall," and "a racist fence."

"Kalkilya the city, excuse me, Kalkilya the ghetto, I'm sorry, Kalkilya the prison," Arafat said.

"I would like to talk to the Israeli people in our formal Arabic language and say to them: the peace forces in Israel know that we have recognized the State of Israel and we will not go back on this. We will not revoke that recognition of Israel. We committed ourselves to this in the Palestinian Legislative Council and also when we signed Oslo in the White House. We recognize the right of the Israeli people to live peacefully with security and stability side by side with a Palestinian people in an independent Palestinian state. A permanent peace, a just peace in our region. Hear me now you Israelis, the time has come for us to get out of this destructive war," Arafat said.

Picking up from where his boss had left off, PM Qurei also talked about Israel's security barrier as a "racist barrier" and continued Arafat's theme of the "violation of Muslim sacred places."

As a finishing touch to his speech, Qurei said, "We will continue to be faithful to our people and to the martyrs."

Amir Mizroch contributed to this report.