The Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, cut short a visit to Jordan and headed back to Gaza last night after his police force shot dead two teenagers in violent demonstrations following the latest death sentence to be handed down by his courts.
A Palestinian military court in Rafiah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, sentenced to death Raeed Attar (25), a member of one of Mr Arafat's security agencies, for the killing last month of Capt Rifat Joudeh, a captain in another, competing security agency.
On hearing news of the death sentence, hundreds of Rafiah residents, led by Mr Attar's relatives, took to the streets in protest.
Palestinian policemen opened fire to try and disperse the crowds, and killed two locals, injuring several more.
Yesterday's violence and the court case itself underlined many of the flaws in Mr Arafat's regime cited by human rights activists - flaws relating to the proliferation of different security agencies, concern at the sense among the security forces that they are above the law, and worries over the legal process in the military courts.
Last month's killing of Capt Joudeh came in circumstances that are still far from clear. The captain, a member of Mr Arafat's Preventive Security Service, was apparently trying to arrest Attar and two of his colleagues, who were described at the time as members of Hamas, the Islamic militant movement that opposes Mr Arafat's rule.
There was a shoot-out and a chase, and Capt Joudeh and two children were killed.
At yesterday's court hearing, however, Attar and his two colleagues, who received lengthy jail terms, were described not as Hamas members, but as members of a pro-Arafat security agency, the Special Security Bureau.
Capt Joudeh, Attar and his two fellow convicts all belong to large Gaza families, and observers believe the feud between them all could yet prompt further violence.
It is not known when or even whether the death sentence is to be carried out on Attar, but Mr Arafat has authorised several executions by firing squad in recent months, with members of his own security forces among the victims, in an apparent effort to quell public dismay at the lawlessness among his tens of thousands of police and security personnel.
Only last weekend, there were reports here of the execution of a Palestinian policeman, convicted at a two-hour hearing of raping a minor, his lawyer denied the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, leave to appeal rejected, and the execution carried out the same day.
Implementation of death sentences requires Mr Arafat's personal approval.
Passing sentence yesterday, Brig Ismail al-Shafyai declared that his five-judge panel had meted out "justice in accordance with the law".
Unusually, the hearing was relatively lengthy, and was held in open court. Previous hearings have been brief, and behind closed doors.
Nevertheless, as he was led away from the courtroom, Attar screamed that "there is no justice in Palestine".
His relatives outside took up the cry, the demonstrations escalated, and the police opened fire.
Israeli Jews and Arabs united yesterday to congratulate Ms Rana Raslan (21), the first Arab woman to be crowned Miss Israel in the 49-year history of the competition. The Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, said her victory was proof of the equality and coexistence of Arabs and Jews in Israel.
Mr Talab a-Sana, an Israeli Arab Knesset member, called her success "a symbolic and historic event, which highlights the shrinking of the alienation between Jews and Arabs". Ms Raslan, who lives in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Haifa and works in a law firm, said she would represent Israel "in the best way that I can" in the next Miss World contest.
Ms Raslan succeeds Ms Linor Avargil, who won last year's Miss World competition in the Seychelles, and who is now testifying in a court case here against an Israeli travel agent charged with raping her two months before the contest.