JERUSALEM?Israel and the Palestinians resumed security talks Tuesday despite a new burst of violence, and a Saudi peace initiative gathered fresh momentum after the Palestinians and some Israeli officials welcomed it.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, will hold previously unscheduled talks with the man behind the peace plan?Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah?on Wednesday in Riyadh, Solana told reporters after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Despite ongoing tensions, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Tel Aviv to resume talks about stopping the violence, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that the security contacts?suspended over the weekend after Israel’s refusal to end Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s confinement to the West Bank town of Ramallah? should resume quickly.