The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, met Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo as part of Mr. Abbas's first major foreign tour since assuming his post more than two months ago.

Mr. Abbas has been hesitant to undertake such a journey while the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, was still confined by Israel to his West Bank compound in Ramallah.

But Mr. Arafat has apparently given his blessing to the trip, which will include a visit to Jordan before Mr. Abbas heads to the United States to see President Bush on Friday.

On the Israeli side, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was in Brussels, proposing greater European involvement in Middle East peace efforts.

Mr. Shalom's speech to European Union officials was the latest Israeli effort at improving relations. Israel has criticized European countries for tilting toward the Palestinians and had sought to minimize European involvement in any peace moves.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon traveled to Britain and Norway last week as part of the effort to rebuild ties. Mr. Sharon, a frequent visitor to Mr. Bush's White House, is to meet the president on July 29.

Violence is down sharply since Palestinian factions declared a truce three weeks ago, but the Israelis and the Palestinians have been making little progress carrying out the peace plan, known as the road map.

The two sides have been looking to the United States to mediate disputes, and the discussions with Mr. Bush could signal whether the pace of peacemaking will pick up.

Speaking at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., where he was playing host to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, President Bush said, "Both Prime Minister Abbas and Prime Minister Sharon are showing leadership and courage." At the same time, he singled out Syria and Iran as countries that "harbor and assist terrorists."

Mr. Sharon and Mr. Abbas met Sunday in Jerusalem but did not achieve breakthroughs on the Palestinian demands for the release of more prisoners and Israeli troop withdrawals. For its part, Israel is insisting that the Palestinians arrest and disarm militants.

In Parliament today, lawmakers voted 47-to-27 in favor of Mr. Sharon's pronouncement that Israel would take down Jewish settlement outposts established over the past two years without government authorization. Such action is required under the road map. Israel has removed about a dozen settlements in recent weeks, but monitoring groups say at least 50 outposts remain. Mr. Sharon emphasized that the nearly 150 formal settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would remain for now and that there would be no negotiations on their future until the final stages of the peace talks.

Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, said that while violence was down, "there are still alerts coming from the terror organizations regarding the abduction of soldiers and civilians."

A Palestinian blew himself up when his bomb went off prematurely as he was approaching Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank, outside Jenin, on Sunday night, the Israeli Army said.

Also, soldiers spotted six Palestinians with a suspicious bag today near the West Bank city of Nablus. The bag contained at least 20 pounds of explosives and was detonated in a controlled explosion, while the six men were detained for questioning, the military said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sharon called for Israel to proceed with construction of a security fence intended to prevent Palestinians from attacking Israeli towns.

The first section, nearing completion along the northern West Bank, has drawn Palestinian complaints because it cuts into the West Bank in many places.

The next phase is likely to raise more Palestinian objections. Israel radio quoted Mr. Mofaz as saying the fence would protect the large Jewish settlement of Ariel, which would require the barrier to go far inside the West Bank.

In a separate development, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an order permitting Israeli companies to trade with Iraq. Until now, Israeli companies were not allowed to do business there. No deals have been announced, and it was not clear whether Iraq would be interested in trading with Israel.