The Palestinian Authority's new Minister of the Interior, Mr Abdel-Razak Yehiyeh, has been holding talks with Hamas and other Palestinian factions on putting a halt to suicide bombings and other attacks on civilians inside sovereign Israel.
But Hamas is baulking at the idea, Palestinian sources say. In the latest such attack, yesterday, an 11-pound explosive device was detonated under a packed double-decker train near the central town of Rehovot, injuring the driver.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mr Yasser Arafat appointed Mr Yehiyeh a month ago, giving him overall responsibility for the PA's numerous security apparatuses, in a cabinet reshuffle intended as a first step towards meeting domestic and international pressure for PA reform.
On Saturday night, Mr Yehiyeh went from a meeting with the Palestinian extremist groups directly to talks with Mr Shimon Peres, the Israeli Foreign Minister, who told him that Israel was prepared to begin withdrawing its troops from some of the seven Palestinian cities they reoccupied a month ago, provided the PA deployed forces there to prevent the despatch of further suicide bombers. There were unconfirmed reports that a pull-out from Hebron and Bethlehem might begin as soon as tomorrow.
The Israeli and Palestinian ministers also discussed procedures under which Israel would begin to release hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues it has collected from Palestinian workers and withheld because it alleges the PA would use such funds to "finance terrorism."
Amid wall-to-wall international criticism of its plans to deport relatives of suicide bombers from the West Bank to Gaza, Israel's Attorney-General, Mr Elyakim Rubinstein, has indicated that "collective" deportations of family members would not withstand legal scrutiny. But he is backing the exile to Gaza of relatives proven to have assisted or encouraged such bombings, and the continued demolition of the bombers' homes.
Mr Rubinstein's ruling is said to have disappointed Israeli military and intelligence chiefs, who reportedly believe the threat of their families being forcibly removed from the West Bank could prove an effective deterrent to suicide bombers.
Israel has arrested more than 20 relatives of two men it alleges were behind two attacks last week - in Tel Aviv and outside the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel - in which 12 people were killed. Under Mr Rubinstein's limitations, Israeli security sources said few of them would be deported.
Relatives of Mr Ali Ajouri, alleged by Israel to have despatched the two suicide-bombers who hit Tel Aviv last week, insisted they knew nothing of his activities. A petition against deportation filed by the families was withdrawn after Mr Rubinstein promised they would have 12 hours' notice of a decision to deport them, and permission to appeal to the court.