Israelis and Palestinians fought on the streets and bickered at the peace table yesterday, the fifth anniversary of the Oslo accords they sealed with a handshake on the White House lawn.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, answered a threat of suicide bombings from the Islamic militant group, Hamas, with a threat of his own, vowing to meet "massive terrorist attacks" with an iron fist.
"Israel will not tolerate a strike against its citizens and will act with an iron fist against the murderous organisations," Mr Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.
Clashes erupted for the third day since Israel killed two leading Hamas militants, brothers Imad and Adel Awadallah, who were suspected of plotting attacks against Israel. Hamas has vowed to avenge the killings.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse Palestinian stone-throwers near the Jewish settlement of Tekoa, injuring five young people, Palestinians said.
Near Bethlehem, Palestinians raised a coffin covered in black. Written on it in Arabic and Hebrew were the words "Oslo is dead," a reference to the 1993 interim peace deal. In Egypt, the US Middle East envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, lamented the stalemate five years after the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat shook hands with the then Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, at the White House. "I am standing here before you on the fifth anniversary of the signing," Mr Ross said after meeting President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in his renewed efforts to break the deadlock. "Clearly we are not where we had hoped to be."
He returned to Israel later in the day for talks between the Palestinian negotiator, Mr Saeb Erekat, and the Israeli cabinet secretary, Mr Danny Naveh, on outstanding issues from previous deals such as a Gaza airport and safe passage for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.