OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, March 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip overnight as senior officials from both sides mulled a U.S. compromise deal in the search for an elusive truce.

The man was killed during an Israeli military incursion into Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said early Monday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Three other Palestinians were injured in the Israeli operation led by 15 tanks and two bulldozers which moved several hundred meters into Rafah near the Egyptian border.

The death followed another round of deadly violence on Sunday in which 11 people died, underlining the problems involved in hammering out a peace deal. Israeli and Palestinian officials failed again Sunday to reach agreement on the U.S. ceasefire plan, but said they would meet again Monday.

As U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni pressed his search for an elusive ceasefire to halt 18 months of bloodshed that has left nearly 1,600 people dead, violence flared across the territories.

Zinni was hoping to nail down a ceasefire to break the cycle of tit-for-tat attacks and inject new momentum into the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

However, an Israeli defense ministry official said that three hours of talks late Sunday in Tel Aviv "ended without results, even though the American representatives submitted a series of compromise proposals."

The official, who asked not to be named, said the Israeli-Palestinian security high committee would resume negotiations Monday.

The stakes in the latest talks were particularly high for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has been penned up in Ramallah for nearly four months because of travel restrictions imposed by Israel.

With a truce in place, the Israelis say they will let him out for talks with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney as well as the potentially crucial Arab summit that opens Wednesday in the Lebanese capital.

The summit will consider a Saudi proposal to offer Israel normal ties in return for its pullout from occupied lands. However, the initiative could be tainted without Arafat's presence.

Cheney played down expectations Sunday, telling CNN he had no plan to meet Arafat at this time.

Cheney said Arafat had to "get actively into that (ceasefire) plan, actually implement and begin to make progress. ... But to date, they have not gotten to that point yet." Israel, however, should allow the Palestinian leader to attend the Arab summit, he said.

Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian international cooperation minister, said after speaking with Arafat that the chances of him attending the Beirut summit were only about 10 percent.

However, Shaath told reporters in Beirut, "This could change. It could change by Tuesday because of international pressures."

Meanwhile, in Sweden, police said they broke up a small anti-Israeli demonstration on Sunday and arrested one person who was brandishing a knife.

The protestors shouted "Sharon - assassin!" as they were herded into police vans following a protest in front of Stockholm's Nalen restaurant, where an "Israeli festival" was taking place, police said.

The group said in a statement, "defenders of Israel must not be able to move around unchallenged while the biggest offensive against the Palestinians since 1967 is taking place."

Police said the protest was illegal, and around 100 people had gathered before many fled upon seeing police approach.