IN A first, faint, sign that the crisis in Israeli Palestinian relations might be at least temporarily receding, Israel yesterday withdrew some of its tanks from forward positions outside Palestinian cities, and military sources predicted a further easing of the army's West Bank ring of steel if calm was maintained in the next few days.
While the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, set off on a round of consultations in Morocco, France and Egypt on his way back from the Washington summit, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, headed straight home - to a warm reception from his ministers and backers.
Mr Netanyahu's aides have determinedly portrayed the prime minister's performance in Washington - and specifically his refusal to close the Jerusalem tunnel that provoked last week's gun battles, or to set a firm date for the Israeli troop withdrawal from Hebron - as a resounding personal success, and a victory for Mr Netanyahu's self declared principle that the Palestinians should not be seen to gain any benefits from last week's violence.
But while the immediate post summit assessment was that success for Mr Netanyahu spelled failure for everybody else, the Washington talks do at least appear to have bought both sides a little time, and to have planted at least the seeds of some kind of workable relationship between the primed minister and Mr Arafat.
The lack of concrete progress in Washington did not prompt a resurgence of violence in the territories; indeed, yesterday was the quietest day since the initial violence broke out, with only a handful of minor incidents.
The acid test, of course, will come on Sunday, when the Israelis and the Palestinians are to begin talks, mediated by the US peace co ordinator, Mr Dennis Ross, on the Gaza Israel border, that are intended to continue without a break until a deal on Hebron is finalised.
Mr Netanyahu is calling for security modifications and Israel gave the Palestinians a four page document in Washington elaborating on their thinking.
The Israeli Trade Minister, Mr Natan Sharansky, who was in Washington with Mr Netanyahu, said yesterday that the Hebron issue could he resolved within days. Palestinian officials - more realistically, one fears - warned that if Israel was seeking significant changes in the existing accord, the talks would immediately break down, and this last ditch effort to salvage the Oslo peace process would be over.