Against a background of reduced Israeli-Palestinian violence, the Israeli army began withdrawing its forces from areas of two West Bank cities yesterday, and Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority appeared to be stepping up its efforts to thwart attacks on Israeli targets by Islamic militants.
Officially, the Israeli government continues to characterise Mr Arafat as "irrelevant" and to insist that it is relying solely on its own military and intelligence forces to thwart suicide bombings and other attacks. Mr Arafat "is irrelevant to us so long as he does not change his strategy," the Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, declared yesterday.
But in practice, a degree of co-ordination has been resumed between the parallel security forces on the ground. And there are ongoing contacts on the political level also - with figures as prominent as Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, consulting over ceasefire efforts with Mr Arafat's most senior advisers.
And while aides to the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, say they still consider the latest arrests by Mr Arafat of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists, and the closure of offices used by the organisations, to be mere "cosmetic exercises in public relations", the same aides acknowledge that Mr Arafat's televised appeal on Sunday to halt suicide bombings has led to an upsurge of international support for him, and concomitant pressure on Israel to re-embrace him.
Israel's decision to withdraw some of its forces yesterday from parts of Ramallah and Nablus was evidently prompted by a desire to avoid being branded as the obstacle to an improved climate. Tanks pulled out of two neighbourhoods in Ramallah, and soldiers vacated several positions in Nablus. Nevertheless, cities across the West Bank remain under Israeli military blockade. And in Ramallah, where Mr Arafat has been under virtual house arrest this month, the tanks are still only about 300 yards from his office.
Mr Arafat's forces have made several dozen arrests in recent days, even detaining some of their own colleagues who are alleged to have participated in attacks. But his Gaza-based security personnel failed yesterday morning to arrest one of the leading figures in Hamas - Mr Abed al-Aziz al-Rantisi - when Palestinian policemen who surrounded his home in Gaza City were repulsed by almost as many Hamas supporters, who had been mobilised by local mosques to protect him. Seven people were hit by gunfire during the clash.
Meanwhile, several Israeli army officers are to be reprimanded over the placing of an explosive device, which killed five Palestinian boys in a field outside Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on November 22nd. No other action is to be taken against the soldiers involved.
The five members of the al-Astal extended family inadvertently triggered the device when walking to school. The Israeli army's chief of staff, Gen Shaul Mofaz, expressed sorrow over the deaths, which he said resulted from an "operational error" involving faulty judgment, lapsed communication and other mistakes.