Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that Israel was deliberately seeking to stoke unrest in the occupied West Bank but that Palestinians would not be provoked.

"The Israelis want chaos and we know it but we won't let them," Abbas said in comments at his West Bank headquarters, seemingly in response to an Israeli demand on Sunday that he calm a wave of protest in the territory.

Militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, vowed Monday to avenge the death of a prisoner they say was tortured in an Israeli jail.

"This horrific crime will not go unpunished and we promise the Zionist occupation that we will respond to this crime," said a statement distributed to crowds at the funeral of Arafat Jaradat, while armed and masked members of the militant group watched from rooftops, Agence France Presse journalists at the scene reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Barack Obama could hold a three-way summit during the U.S. president's upcoming visit, Israel's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday.

"During the visit of President Obama, a three-way summit could take place or even four-way with King Abdullah II of Jordan," Danny Ayalon said, quoted by Israeli army radio.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is to convene a conference of all Palestinian organizations in the Egyptian capital later on Friday, in a new effort to reconcile his Fatah movement with the rival Hamas.

The meeting, scheduled for 1600 GMT, is of the provisional governing body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is charged with bringing non-members Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the PLO.

The Palestinian presidency hopes U.S. President Barack Obama's forthcoming visit will mark the beginning of a new U.S. policy in the region, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Palestine," Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency told Agence France Presse.

Senator John Kerry, on track to become the next U.S. secretary of state, is to visit Jerusalem and Ramallah in February to examine ways of reviving the peace process, an Israeli daily reported on Friday.

Quoting senior Israeli officials, the left-leaning Haaretz said Kerry was interested in visiting as soon as possible, even before a new Israeli government is appointed following Tuesday's general election.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's latest reconciliation talks with exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal are not the act of a man seeking peace with Israel.

"Abu Mazen (Abbas) gave an embrace to the head of a terror organization who only a month ago stated that Israel should be wiped from the map," a statement from Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will meet his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal in Cairo on Wednesday, Morsi's office said.

Abbas and Meshaal will first "meet Egypt's intelligence chief before holding a three-way meeting with President Morsi," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told Agence France Presse.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas gave orders Sunday for work to begin on new passports, ID cards, drivers' licenses and stamps reading "State of Palestine," official media said.

The decree, carried by the official WAFA news agency, came in the wake of the Palestinians' successful bid late last year for non-member observer state status at the United Nations over intense Israeli and U.S. opposition.

A slender majority of Israelis support the creation of a separate Palestinian state, but did not have high hopes for a peace deal, a survey said on Friday.

The survey by daily Israel Hayom asked more than 800 Israelis "do you support or oppose the idea of two states for two peoples, i.e. the creation of a Palestinian state independent from Israel?"