BOTH sides still profess their desire for peace. But both are very publicly preparing for battle.
The Palestinians, sealed inside their cities by a ring of Israeli tanks and troops since last week, have begun hoarding food. In Gaza yesterday, Palestinian policemen were filling sandbanks, to protect their positions from Israeli fire. Only the slim hopes attached to the Washington summit, appear to have prevented a new outbreak of popular protest.
The Israelis are increasing their military deployment all along the border between sovereign Israel and the West Bank, bringing resumed joint security patrols in the West Bank. "We just don't trust the Palestinians any more, said one military official.
Palestinian activists have printed coloured posters in honour of last week's dead in what is being called "the battle for Jerusalem". At a pro Yasser Arafat, rally in Bethlehem yesterday, the speakers pledged that the Palestinian police would do everything to defend their people if a new confrontation erupted. If the summit were to end in failure, Mr Sufian Abu Zaideh, a leading Palestinian official, said yesterday, "God knows what will happen here."
Dr Hanan Ashrawi, another leading Palestinian figure, was more specific if Israeli tanks roll into Palestinian cities, she said, Israel will be at war, not just with the Palestinians, but with the whole Arab world.
Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip asked the government to evacuate their children if they failed. The Defence Minister, Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, said his troops were "ready for the worst". Mr Rafael Eitan, one of the four deputy prime ministers of the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, called for a one year halt in peace talks. "Amazing, isn't it," observed Mr Yossi Sarid, leader of the left wing Israeli Meretz party, "how much damage the Prime Minister, has managed to do in just 100 days?"
On the streets of Israel, the pro and anti government, camps have been exercising their vocal cords.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, about 20,000 peace activists urged Mr Netanyahu to honour the peace deals including the Hebron troop pull out signed by the previous government. In Jerusalem yesterday, a supposedly apolitical annual march through the capital was largely hijacked by settlers and their supporters, urging Mr Netanyahu not to "cave in" under Palestinian pressure.