Amid more violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and threats from Islamic militants of "black days" ahead for Israel, faint glimmers of hope nevertheless emerged last night.
A car-bomb injured eight people near Tel Aviv airport and Israeli gunfire on a funeral in Gaza killed a Palestinian youth and wounded 14 others.
However, there was speculation that intensifying political and security contacts between the warring sides might lead to some kind of respite in the near future.
In a sign of the growing concern at the escalating violence, an Israeli official said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would travel to Washington this weekend for talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and possibly President Bush.
In Herzliyah, near Tel Aviv, at the home of US ambassador Martin Indyk, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials were attempting to reach ceasefire understandings regarding the West Bank.
Earlier in the day, lower-level officials had held similar contacts, albeit without conspicuous success, in Gaza.
Much more significantly, however, the Israeli government said it is seriously considering a Jordanian-Egyptian proposal, accepted by the Palestinians, for halting the seven-month Intifada and bringing the parties back to the negotiating table.
Initially, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had rejected the plan. But yesterday, his Minister of Defence, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, described it as "worthy of examination". Belgium's Foreign Minister Louis Michel has also been shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, apparently with alternative drafts of the plan.
It seems likely that Israel will submit a revised version of the proposal within the next few days. What is less certain is that such an amended plan will prove acceptable to its Egyptian and Jordanian sponsors, or to Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Specifically, Mr Sharon objects to two clauses in the proposal that Mr Arafat doubtless considers vital: the calls for a complete freeze on Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza, and for an effort to conclude a comprehensive peace treaty within six months. The Prime Minister is a firm advocate of "natural growth" of the settlements, and has been adamant that he will seek only "interim" accords with the Palestinian Authority.
While the diplomatic efforts gather pace, the violence continues. A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead in Gaza, during the funeral of a Palestinian policeman who had been killed last week. Palestinians charged that the boy had been killed by Israeli gunfire; Israel said it was investigating. Eight Israelis were injured in a bombing in the town of Or Yehudah, and there were numerous other clashes.
Formally taking responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombing in Kfar Sava, north of Tel Aviv, Hamas militants named the bomber as Imad Kamel alZbaidi, from Nablus, in the West Bank. He was, the group said, the fourth of the 10 such attackers it has promised to deploy against Israel.
"The coming days are black days for the Zionists," Hamas warned in a statement. "Sharon will wish his mother had never given birth to him."
Ominously, Hamas had initially named Sunday's bomber as a Gaza man. Israeli officials take this to mean that the Gaza bomber is on the move somewhere, poised to strike.