The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, is indicating that he might reject a US ultimatum on the Middle East peace talks, even as two killings yesterday underlined the grave potential for intensified violence if the peace effort collapses.
Before dawn, on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Old City, a Jewish seminary student was stabbed to death as he walked to prayers at the Western Wall.
There was no immediate admission of responsibility, but Israeli police said the murderer was a Palestinian. The Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr Ehud Olmert, said the circumstances pointed "to the high likelihood that it was murder by Arab terrorists."
At the West Bank settlement of Eli, a settler shot dead a Palestinian who, according to an army statement, had stabbed him in the chest.
In the West Bank town of Hebron a Palestinian man tried to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint, witnesses said. They said the soldier, who escaped unhurt, fired into the air while two other soldiers overpowered the assailant.
The attacks came a day after the US Secretary of State, Mrs Madeleine Albright, closing the inconclusive London summit, told Mr Netanyahu he had only until next Monday to accept the latest American ideas for reviving the peace process.
The initial signals are that the prime minister is not prepared to bow to the US pressure, despite the likelihood of more local violence, and of a crisis in Israeli ties with the US.
Mr Netanyahu has called a cabinet meeting for next Sunday to discuss the US proposals, which include a demand for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from a further 13 per cent of occupied West Bank land.
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, has already accepted the package.
If Mr Netanyahu were to give his assent, President Clinton would welcome the two Middle East leaders to Washington next Monday, and formally launch talks on the key, final phase of the peace process - the permanent accord, in which all outstanding Israeli-Palestinian disputes would have to be resolved.
However, Mr Netanyahu said yesterday, "We do not accept dictates," and that if the US was presenting him with a take it or leave it offer, "then I am very doubtful that this [Washington] summit will come to be."
Several members of his coalition said yesterday they would bring down his government if he capitulated to US pressure.
The influential Infrastructure Minister, Gen Ariel Sharon, currently on a visit to the US, termed the demand for a 13 per cent pullout "very dangerous."
Mr Netanyahu's spokesman, Mr David Bar-Illan, was adamant that "We cannot give up land which may be essential, vital, crucial to Israel's security, no matter what the threat is, no matter what the possible confrontation may be."
Despite all the tough talk, however, it seems premature to assume that Mr Netanyahu will defy the Americans - especially as he appears to have won a negotiating victory in London.
For months he has been urging the Palestinians to forego a further scheduled West Bank withdrawal, and instead to plunge into the "final status" talks. Now it seems that the Palestinians may be ready to concede on this issue.
If he wants to, Mr Netanyahu could point to this concession as proof of the success of his negotiating stance, and as an argument in securing his coalition partners' grudging support for the 13 per cent pullout.