The Bush administration yesterday delivered a heavy diplomatic blow to the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat, announcing that President Bush is refusing to meet him at this weekend's United Nations General Assembly in New York because he is not deemed to be doing enough to fight terrorism.
Mr Bush's National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, declared that it was not sufficient for Mr Arafat to pledge support for the US-led coalition against terror, without also working to "root out terrorists, to arrest them" in Palestinian territory.
"You cannot help us with al-Qaeda and hug Hizbollah - that's not acceptable - or Hamas," she said.
"The President continues to make that clear to Mr Arafat, and there are no plans to meet with Mr Arafat in New York," she added.
The snub marks the failure of a concerted effort by the PA to arrange a first-ever meeting between Mr Arafat and the president - an effort that has seen PA Minister Mr Nabil Sha'ath meeting Bush administration officials in Washington this week.
Despite keeping Mr Arafat at arms length, however, the US administration is one of several players leading new efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Underlining the urgency of the diplomatic efforts, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up as Israeli troops approached him yesterday, there were alerts for further potential bombings in northern and southern Israel, and a Palestinian collaborator was shot dead by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank town of Tulkarm.
Israeli officials said they intended to withdraw forces shortly from the last two towns where they have been re-occupying Palestinian land - Jenin and Tulkarm.
But Mr Arafat noted yesterday that while Israeli forces have left the other West Bank cities that they entered in response to last month's assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Mr Rehavam Ze'evi, they are still maintaining a military blockade outside Ramallah, Qalkilya and other areas.
"They say they withdrew but they did not," Mr Arafat charged. "They moved the tanks from one place to another, and unfortunately tightened the siege."
Israel readily acknowledges that it is maintaining stringent restrictions on Palestinian movement around the West Bank - to protect itself, officials say, from suicide bombers and other attackers.
Near Tulkarm yesterday morning, a Hamas suicide bomber killed himself in an orchard as Israeli soldiers, acting on an intelligence tip-off, closed in on him.
At a meeting today, Israel's moderate Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, is to detail a new peace plan to his Prime Minister, the hardline Mr Ariel Sharon, but also made clear he will not evacuate Jewish settlements at this stage.
That stance would suggest that no far-reaching initiative could possibly emerge from the session.
Mr Peres met in Sweden yesterday with the Mr Ahmed Qurei, the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament and a co-architect of the Oslo peace accords.