After a sixth day of fighting made a mockery of talk of a ceasefire yesterday, the United States today launches a diplomatic blitz to try and put a stop to the Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At least four more Palestinians and one Israeli Arab died in yesterday's clashes, bringing the overall death toll well into the 50s. The overwhelming majority of the victims have been Palestinians, but the dead also include 10 Israeli Arabs and two Jews.
Yesterday's fighting was less widespread than on previous days. But at flashpoints like Gaza's Netzarim junction and the Joseph's Tomb enclave in Nablus, it was as intense as it has been since violence first broke out after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount last Thursday. Israel again fired from helicopters.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders began the day trumpeting a ceasefire. Israeli forces withdrew from some of their forward positions in the West Bank and Palestinian Radio broadcast word of the agreement reached overnight between Israeli army commanders and Palestinian security chiefs. But by afternoon, gunfire was again being exchanged - not so much between soldiers and Palestinian policemen as between soldiers and plain-clothes activists from the Fatah movement.
And as the Israeli Arab community buried some of its dead, there were more clashes in several areas of northern Israel, where the violence now constitutes the gravest in modern Israel's history. Some 10,000 people attended the funeral in Nazareth of a teenager shot on Monday.
Palestinian officials are noting the "Palestinisation" of Israel's Arabs. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, yesterday held a long meeting with Israeli Arab leaders to try to mollify the community.
In Paris today, the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, is to host talks with Mr Barak and Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat, although there were reports last night that Mr Arafat was refusing to meet Mr Barak. Tomorrow, in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak is to join this threesome. Worryingly for Israel, there were demonstrations of support for the Palestinians in the two countries with which it has full peace treaties: Egypt and Jordan. The Israeli army's commander for Gaza, Gen Yom-Tov Samia, acknowledged yesterday that his troops had killed the 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durra on Saturday - in scenes broadcast around the world.
"I'm sorry, of course, for the loss of a child's life. I have children of my own," he said. "But this boy was not standing five metres from a source of Palestinian gunfire by accident."
Deaglan de Breadun adds from Strasbourg:
An appeal for an immediate end to violence in the Middle East has been made by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, who said it was the only way to get the peace process "back on track". Speaking to reporters during a visit to the European Parliament, Mr Annan said: "It is a very tragic situation and I really feel sorry for those who have lost their lives."
He had been in touch with Mr Barak and Mr Arafat from the beginning of the current episode, "appealing to them to do everything they can to bring the situation under control" and had spoken to both of them again yesterday. He will also meet them in Paris today.