Israel spent the weekend grappling with a bewildering succession of acts of violence and tragedy - some of them inspired by Palestinian militants, others the result of Israelis' own negligence and stupidity - and its leaders warned of more of the same for the foreseeable future.
On Saturday afternoon, as rescue teams completed their search for survivors in the rubble of the Versailles wedding hall in Jerusalem - which collapsed on Thursday night with the loss of 23 lives - dozens of soccer fans were injured, two of them seriously, in a stadium riot.
Later that night, at the very moment that various builders, engineers and owners allegedly involved in the wedding hall disaster were being remanded into custody, a massive car bomb exploded outside the courtroom in central Jerusalem.
The blast took place in one of the city's most popular bar and pub districts, which was packed at the time, but nobody was injured.
The dire pattern continued yesterday. Just around the corner from Saturday's night blast, another car bomb exploded - this one a complicated device featuring nails and mortar shells. Some of the shells flew hundreds of yards through the town centre.
Again, astonishingly, nobody was seriously hurt, although several dozen Israelis were treated for shock and minor injuries.
Soon afterwards, Israeli officials confirmed that a West Bank settler had opened fire on two Palestinians, injuring them both in the stomach.
Later yesterday, the exhausted Israeli emergency services were called to deal with three forest fires, amid suspicions of arson.
Throughout the weekend, meanwhile, the victims of the wedding hall collapse were being buried.
On the diplomatic front, the US envoy, Mr William Burns, met the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, with the upsurge in bombings and other violence at the top of his agenda.
"In my talks with Arafat, I urged that he do everything possible to stop such attacks," Mr Burns said. Mr Arafat may now meet the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, in the next day or so.
A Palestinian cabinet minister, Mr Ziad Abu Ziad, said the Palestinian Authority regretted the loss of any and all innocent lives, and urged Israel to freeze building at West Bank settlements. Privately, Palestinian officials said that there was no way they could be blamed for blasts anywhere in Jerusalem, where Israel insists on full sovereignty.
Responsibility for the blast on Saturday was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and for yesterday's bomb by Islamic Jihad. On the defensive because of the lack of Israeli lives lost in these and several other recent bombings, one militant spokesman claimed that Israel was "hiding the dead bodies".
Mr Sharon told Mr Burns that Israeli troops would maintain their quasi-ceasefire, but that time was running out. "We are a very tolerant nation", said the Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. "But there is a limit to our restraint."
In Doha, Qatar, on Saturday night, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference called for members to break ties with Israel, for the establishment of a war crimes tribunal for Israelis, and for the deployment of an international force to protect the Palestinians. Qatar itself, which had low-level ties with Israel, announced that these were now being suspended.