Vicious Israeli-Palestinian gun-battles flared throughout the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip yesterday, as the fourth day of what the Palestinians are calling "the battle for Jerusalem" escalated into all-out conflict, and the death toll rose towards 30.
Palestinian leaders accused Israel of "premeditated murder". And, as the fighting continued into the night, Israeli leaders accused the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, of orchestrating the violence in order to garner world sympathy for his demands for control of Jerusalem's Old City.
The Clinton administration appealed to both sides for calm and may dispatch Secretary of State Ms Madeleine Albright to the region later in the week. The prospects of these two peoples achieving a permanent peace treaty by the year's end, as had been their target, seemed utterly hopeless.
At some West Bank Jewish settlements last night, weapons were reportedly being distributed to residents.
The violence also spread into Israel itself, with Israel's security forces facing off against members of the one million strong Arab minority in towns and villages all over the north of the country. A main road from Tel Aviv to Haifa was closed for part of the day. Masked youths threw petrol bombs at police in Nazareth, Israel's largest Arab town, and clouds of black smoke billowed across Galilee, as locals burned tyres, marched with Palestinian flags, and stoned and occasionally fired on the police, who responded with tear-gas and rubber bullets. There were even clashes in Arab areas of Jaffa, the sister-city of Tel Aviv.
The heaviest conflict was at familiar flashpoints in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including the Israeli army position at the isolated Gaza settlement of Netzarim, a crossroads north of Ramallah, where an Israeli soldier, wounded earlier in the day, died of his injuries last night because his would-be rescuers were unable to extricate him.
At these and several other flashpoints, Palestinian policemen added their automatic weapon fire to the stones and petrol bombs thrown by hundreds of rioting locals. The Israeli army responded, intermittently, with live fire. Israeli officers also acknowledged using grenades, missile-fire, and even assault helicopters. "The peace process is drowning in blood," said Palestinian Minister Mr Yasser Abed-Rabbo. "It's a war out here," said an Israel Radio reporter at Ramallah.
The Palestinians reported a death toll approaching 30 - including numerous children and several policemen - and hundreds injured, and Israel reported two soldiers dead and dozens wounded, in clashes that have steadily intensified since Thursday. That was when hardline Israeli opposition leader Mr Ariel Sharon made a much-hyped visit to the ultra-sensitive Temple Mount - the disputed site, holy to Jews and Muslims, where Israel has claimed sovereignty since the 1967 war and where Mr Arafat insists on attaining Muslim sovereignty.
Israel is investigating the killing of 12-year-old Mohammad al-Durra, who was shot at Netzarim on Saturday, in full view of French TV cameras, as his father begged gunmen out of picture to halt their fire.
Palestinian Planning Minister Mr Nabil Sha'ath asserted that Israel has been massively overreacting. "This was premeditated murder of people, shot by snipers," he said. Mr Arafat was quoted in a Saudi newspaper as saying that the Palestinians would defend themselves by all means, including war.
Israeli military officers countered that they have been exercising restraint, and using live fire only when their lives are in danger.