Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, is resisting calls from government hardliners and his army chief-of-staff for a repeat of April's "Operation Defensive Shield" offensive in the West Bank.
This follows a renewed spate of suicide bombings and shooting attacks which saw six Israelis killed on Monday and Tuesday.
The hardliners argue that last month's unprecedented military incursions into most Palestinian population centres, accompanied by thousands of arrests, bought Israel a brief respite from attack, and that a similar offensive would achieve a similar result.
However, Mr Sharon and his moderate Labour coalition partners counter that such an assault, at present at least, would be counter-productive.
Israel is still reeling from international criticism over the high level of physical devastation caused by the massive operation last month.
Furthermore, it has failed to win much support outside the United States for its argument that the troops were ordered into action only as a last result, to try to thwart the bombings being orchestrated in densely populated areas, such as the Jenin refugee camp, where President Yasser Arafat had refrained from deploying his security forces.
Moreover, even the US might not be overly enamoured by a new military initiative right now, with a senior State Department official, Mr William Burns, and the CIA chief Mr George Tenet due here in the next few days to try to broker some kind of return to the negotiating table and a rehabilitation of Mr Arafat's security apparatus.
Mr Sharon has also been told by his intelligence chiefs of the heightened motivation among would-be bombers in the wake of the heavy military assault.
The army said it had arrested yet another suicide bomber in Bethlehem on Tuesday night, Arin Ahmed, who it said had planned to carry out an attack in Rishon Letzion but changed her mind. Troops remain deployed in some Palestinian areas, including Bethlehem.
While the prime minister had been contemplating an offensive in the Gaza Strip - especially after officials said the bomber who killed 15 Israelis in a May 7th bombing of a snooker hall had been dispatched from Gaza - the intelligence agencies confirmed earlier this week that none of the dozens of suicide bombings during recent months were orchestrated from the strip.
This would make a heavy strike in Gaza difficult to justify.
At a cabinet meeting yesterday, when the Chief-of-staff, Gen Shaul Mofaz, reportedly urged that Mr Arafat be deported and a new major military operation launched, Mr Sharon is said to have brusquely told him to confine his comments to narrower military matters, and stay out of the political decision-making process.
Meanwhile, Mr Arafat, under pressure to institute or accept reforms in his Palestinian Authority, was yesterday said to have formally approved a "Palestinian constitution" - by signing a so-called "Basic Law" that would pave the way for approval of a raft of fundamental legislation.
The Basic Law was finalised by the Palestinian Legislative Council three years ago, but Mr Arafat had refrained from approving it.