Amid continuing Israeli-Palestinian violence, and the growing international hostility to Israel underlined by the rhetoric at the UN conference on racism in Durban, the seemingly simple task of organising a meeting between the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, is proving a Herculean diplomatic struggle.
Germany and Egypt have both come and gone as possible venues for talks both sides purport to agree are vital to try and halt the 11-month conflict. Italy is now the most likely location, and Friday the tentative date - both men are set to attend an international conference on globalisation - but there is still no guarantee that their paths will formally cross.
Mr Peres, who is pressing for a series of meetings with Mr Arafat to try and widen the fragile ceasefire that has taken hold at Jerusalem's southern edge, has evidently won out over hawkish members of the Israeli government.
Yesterday he met Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and emerged to condemn Mr Arafat's comments as "harsh and disappointing" but also to characterise negotiations with him as "a necessity".
Mr Arafat, however, is anxious, before committing himself to new talks, to ensure that he would emerge with concrete gains. Hamas and other rejectionist groups, growing in popularity week by week, are overtly opposed to any meeting with Israeli officials. And the mysterious killing on Saturday of a senior Palestinian intelligence official, Taiseer Khatab, may give Mr Arafat pause for thought.
Although Palestinian officials initially blamed Israel for the explosion that killed Mr Khatab in his car, a Hamas-linked faction later took responsibility for the blast, alleging that the victim "served the Zionist enemy for many years".
Mr Khatab was one of four Palestinians killed over the weekend. Abir Abu-Salha (22) died in an unexplained explosion inside a taxi in Tulkarm on Saturday night. And two gunmen from the Fatah faction Tanzim's militia were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during gun-battles in Hebron yesterday.