The first real signs of a crisis between the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mr Yasser Arafat, emerged yesterday with Mr Arafat accusing Mr Barak of trying to evade full implementation of the US-brokered Wye Plantation deal.
Asked about a meeting on Sunday of an Israeli-Palestinian committee set up to discuss implementation of the Wye agreement, Mr Arafat said yesterday: "There is an attempt to evade the accurate and complete implementation of the agreements."
In response, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, said the Palestinians were creating a crisis rather than dealing seriously with the proposals presented to them by Mr Barak, who wished to delay execution of part of the West Bank land transfers to the Palestinians.
Mr Barak fears that if the agreement is carried out in full, it will leave about 15 West Bank Jewish settlements isolated and exposed to attack from Palestinian militants.
On Sunday night, Mr Barak's office released a statement intimating that the problem was the Palestinian "lack of flexibility toward his ideas".
Mr Barak has said on several occasions that if the Palestinians reject his ideas, the Wye agreement will be carried out in full. On Sunday, he told his cabinet that the next Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank would begin on October 1st.
Yesterday Mr Arafat reiterated his demand that the agreement be implemented immediately, and in full.
In Cairo at the weekend, Mr Arafat held talks with leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) aimed at settling a rift which opened when the Palestinian leader signed the Oslo peace accords with Israel in 1993.
Along with other rejectionist groups, the PFLP has consistently opposed any recognition of Israel. While PFLP officials rejected Mr Arafat's offer that they join his Palestinian Authority, they said talks were positive.
Meanwhile an Israeli Arab MP, Mr Azmi Bishara, on a private visit to Damascus, came away from a meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Faruq al-Shara, yesterday saying that there was "serious disappointment" in Damascus over Israel's peace intentions.
He added that the Syrians were talking about "normal peace, between normal countries".
Mr Barak discussed Israeli-Syrian relations with the Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, during a visit to Moscow yesterday.
Mr Barak also discussed Israel's fears about the seepage of nuclear expertise and materials from Russia to Iran.
The Syrian Defence Minister, Mr Mustafa Tlass, launched an outspoken attack on Mr Arafat yesterday, calling him the "son of a whore" for his failure to maintain Palestinian rights over Jerusalem. He went on to compare Mr Arafat to a stripper.
"Look at him when he is on the stage, he moves from concession to concession, like a striptease artiste, except that the artiste becomes more beautiful with