Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, yesterday blocked planned intifada ceasefire talks between his Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, but said he would sanction such discussions if 48 hours passed without Palestinian attacks on Israel.
Mr Arafat, who before last Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the US had himself been delaying a meeting with Mr Peres, said he was now ready to meet the Foreign Minister at any time.
These diplomatic shenanigans reflect the impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of Black Tuesday, which now sees Mr Arafat anxious to be perceived as allying himself with the United States in its planned assault on terrorism - and Mr Sharon horrified at that prospect but wary of offending Washington.
Against that background, both sides sustained losses in heavy violence over the weekend - a series of attacks and counter-attacks for which each blamed the other. Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli civilian motorist on the northern edge of Jerusalem on Saturday; Israeli troops promptly entered the Palestinian city of Ramallah, further to the north, to which the assailants had reportedly fled, and arrested several alleged Islamic militants. A Palestinian man was killed, as was an Israeli soldier, in clashes that lasted for several hours. Israeli troops killed a 21-year-old Palestinian medical worker in Beit Sahour, south of Jerusalem, in fighting that followed Palestinian gunfire on an Israeli army position. And a Palestinian teenager from Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, who was throwing stones at Israeli troops, was shot dead by them.
Although there are suggestions that Mr Arafat may attempt to clamp down on any further suicide bombings by Islamic extremists inside Israel, he has clearly not moved to try and halt the intifada altogether - evidently concluding that the international community will not be outraged by attacks on Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
Palestinian officials, indeed, have been characterising Israel as the terrorist entity. Mr Sharon, for his part, continues to assert that Mr Arafat is part of the problem of terrorism rather than its solution, and said in the Knesset yesterday that he was worried by the notion of the PA participating in a US-led anti-terror coalition, since this would enable Mr Arafat "to continue with the terror, while we will be unable to act against him".
The terrorism that the US was now trying to counter, he said, was "exactly the same" as the terrorism that had taken "thousands of Jewish lives" over the years.
The Bush administration has made plain that it wants the two sides to achieve a ceasefire. The conflict has now lasted for close to a year, but quelling it has suddenly become urgent in Washington's eyes - to avoid damaging fallout for its anti-terror campaign.
The President spoke to Mr Sharon on Saturday, and urged him to let yesterday's Arafat-Peres meeting go ahead as scheduled. Mr Sharon was unmoved, reiterating his assertion that Mr Arafat is Israel's Osama Bin Laden.
Still, to mollify the US, the Prime Minister announced in the Knesset yesterday that he would halt all further "initiated operations" against Palestinian targets if Mr Arafat ordered a "complete end to terror activities". He also offered that, "if there will be complete quiet for 48 consecutive hours, the Foreign Minister will meet Arafat in order to advance the process of the cease-fire".
Mr Sharon presumably believes such a 48-hour period of calm will not ensue, and so does Mr Peres, who is now openly furious with his Prime Minister. The Foreign Minister argues that Israel has nothing to lose from a meeting between him and Mr Arafat and much to gain.
"Why must we become the party that refuses?" he asked yesterday. If such talks led to a ceasefire, he reasoned, so much the better. And if Mr Arafat failed to halt the violence, "then all the blame will fall on him", he said. Mr Arafat declared yesterday that he was "ready for the political dialogue" at any time, but added that Israel was continuing with its "aerial raids" on Palestinian cities.
The PA leader has moved to quash displays of delight at the events of last Tuesday, and this weekend organised various memorial ceremonies. However, the leader of his Fatah faction in the West Bank, Mr Marwan Barghouti, struck a different tone yesterday, branding the US "the leader of world terrorism".
Israel's army will close the northern border of the West Bank with a military buffer zone starting on September 24th, it announced last night.