Reacting to the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian relations in the wake of Wednesday's Jerusalem bombing, President Clinton announced yesterday that he was sending his special envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, to the Middle East next week.
Mr Ross would be bringing with him "our latest ideas" to salvage peace hopes, the President said.
Far from uniting mainstream Israelis and Palestinians in a battle against the radicals, the bombing and its aftermath have deepened the divide between the ostensible peace partners, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Mr Netanyahu has been brutally critical of what he regards as Mr Arafat's failure to even try to counter the Hamas and Islamic Jihad networks.
Mr Arafat has been infuriated by the Israeli Prime Minister's threats to send troops into his West Bank areas, and by the blockades Mr Netanyahu has imposed around each separate West Bank city.
The Palestinian leader has also been rocked by Mr Netanyahu's threat to withhold the $40 million in tax revenues Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority each month, and his call for the US and other donor nations to suspend their funding to the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli security chiefs estimate that the Palestinian Authority will collapse, economically and politically, within two months, if Israel maintains its closure order on the West Bank and Gaza, the block on funding and other punitive measures.
So fierce has Mr Netanyahu's rhetoric been, that there is cause to wonder whether the Prime Minister has decided that Israel's interests are not now best served by Mr Arafat's survival. In an interview with the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot yesterday, indeed, Mr Netanyahu made it clear that he had no interest in any further partnership unless Mr Arafat took the firmest action against the Islamists. "If he can't fight terrorism," the Prime Minister asked, "then what was the point of this whole thing, the Oslo accord?"
Mr Netanyahu's unrelenting pressure on Mr Arafat comes at a stage when it is still by no means clear who was responsible for Wednesday's blast. Several contradictory leaflets have been issued since the bombing, some taking responsibility in the name of Hamas; some threatening further attacks if prisoners are not released by tomorrow evening; and others denying responsibility altogether.
Similar confusion prevails over the two suicide bombers themselves. DNA and blood testing of the bombers' corpses has shown that they are not, after all, those of two men who disappeared from the West Bank village of Dahariya a year or so ago.
To help the investigation, and also in a show of force against the Islamists, Israel is continuing to arrest dozens of suspected activists from West Bank areas it still controls. Mr Arafat's forces are said to have arrested several key Hamas militants.
In the current tense, bitter atmosphere, Mr Ross will have his work cut out to bring Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat back to the negotiating table. Ironically, though, while the leaders feud, the Israeli public, at least, does seem to be moving toward a consensus on the necessary concessions for peace.
An opinion poll published yesterday, albeit taken before the bombing, showed 59 per cent of Israelis supporting Palestinian statehood, and 71 per cent acknowledging that "in the end" the Palestinians will gain their independence. The same poll, incidentally, showed 31 per cent believe Mr Netanyahu will bring peace, and 43 per cent war.