When Israel and the Palestinians began the phased Oslo peacemaking process, its architects gambled that, with time, leaders on both sides would begin to show readiness to compromise on even the most bitter issues dividing them. But almost seven years on, the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, are sounding anything but flexible.
Mr Arafat is insisting that Israel hand over to the Palestinians all the territory it captured in the 1967 war - in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. And whether the Israelis like it or not, he told a Fatah gathering in Nablus earlier this week, he would be declaring independent statehood within the next few weeks. Palestinian officials believe that more than 130 countries are ready to recognise the establishment of Palestine, whenever Mr Arafat gives the signal.
Mr Barak, for his part, having earlier signalled a more forgiving attitude, is reported to have told the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, on Wednesday that he would take a dim view of any unilateral move to statehood by Mr Arafat. According to yesterday's Ma'ariv daily, the Prime Minister said he would promptly annex those parts of the West Bank - the majority of the territory - where Mr Arafat has not yet been granted control.
If the rhetoric faithfully reflects the reality, then Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation efforts are about to come to a violent end. But behind the scenes, there are indications of greater willingness to compromise. Sources on both sides suggest that Mr Arafat will settle for less than 100 per cent of the West Bank, and that Mr Barak is prepared to relinquish more of the territory than any of his predecessors - including parts of the Jordan Valley, hitherto regarded as Israel's vital eastern "security border".
The challenge now for the two sides, and for President Clinton as he weighs whether to invite Mr Barak and Mr Arafat for bite-the-bullet summit talks at the end of July, is to find a magic formula ahead of the parties' self-imposed mid-September deadline: a formula under which Mr Barak can show moderation but still maintain majority public support in Israel, and Mr Arafat can compromise without incurring the fury of a Palestinian public that has seen Hizbullah, through force, rid Israel of 100 per cent of the territory it occupied in southern Lebanon.