Hours after Israeli troops and dozens of armoured vehicles swept into the West Bank city of Nablus, the Israeli Prime Minister discussed with US and Egyptian diplomats what role Mr Yasser Arafat might play - none, as far as the Israeli leader is concerned - in reforming the Palestinian Authority and reigniting the peace process.
In Nablus, the army clamped a curfew on residents as it undertook one of its now-daily sweeps for militants in Palestinian-controlled areas. The Fatah leader in the city, Mr Issam Abu Bakr, was arrested during the raid.
In the nearby Balata refugee camp, troops conducted house-to-house searches, moving from one home to the next by smashing holes in adjoining walls - a method the army employed during its massive April incursion in the West Bank and which, it says, is meant to protect soldiers from sniper fire.
The military said its foray into Balata was in retaliation for the latest wave of attacks on Israelis. Balata is a stronghold of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militia, which is linked to Mr Arafat's Fatah movement, and which earlier this week claimed responsibility for two attacks in which five Israelis were killed.
Addressing the latest incursion, a military spokesman said it was "easier" to try to capture suicide bombers "at their point of departure," rather than "at the entrance to (Israeli) cities".
In Nablus, Palestinians reported that shells fired by Israeli tanks knocked out electricity in part of the city. Doctors said one person was seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire.
In the West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron, an armed Palestinian was shot by a resident after he cut the perimeter fence and infiltrated the settlement. Eyewitnesses said he opened fire on a kindergarten before being shot dead.
Mr Arafat, who is under intense international and domestic pressure to implement sweeping reforms of his Palestinian Authority, said the Nablus raid was aimed at "bringing our people to their knees," and vowed not to rest "until a child raises the flag of Palestine over the walls, churches and minarets of Jerusalem."
In his meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Mr William Burns, Mr Ariel Sharon reiterated his diplomatic mantra - that Mr Arafat is not lifting a finger to fight terror, and that the Palestinian leader will not undertake reforms intended to democratise the Palestinian Authority and increase its transparency.
Mr Sharon, who has tried to marginalise Mr Arafat and hopes the reform process will ultimately curtail his powers, repeated this line to Mr Osama al Baz, a senior adviser to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, in another meeting yesterday.
But neither Mr Burns nor Mr al Baz appeared convinced. The US envoy presented the idea of moving forward simultaneously on three separate tracks: a political track, a reform one and a security one. And he reportedly told the Israeli leader that Mr Arafat was a key figure in the process of reforming the Palestinian Authority.