The Problem : Israel and the Palestinians are heading back rapidly towards the kind of frustration and mistrust that characterised the years of the intifada uprising, between 1987 and 1993.

The Oslo peace process is hopelessly deadlocked. Under the Oslo timetable, in the past 18 months, Israel was supposed to have carried out three troop withdrawals from the West Bank land, leaving the vast majority of the territory in the hands of Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The first withdrawal has yet to happen.

The Solution : Firm and creative American mediation is needed to get the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, and Mr Arafat working properly together, with the implied threat of a reduction in crucial US aid and other pressures if they do not. Mr Clinton's personal involvement was effective in the past and Israel and the Palestinians signed the deal under which Israel withdrew its forces from most of Hebron.

Since then, negotiations between the sides have been deadlocked. What's needed, urgently, is an energetic US administration, twisting arms and banging heads together, to remind two cynical, mistrustful leaders why both their peoples desperately require a negotiated settlement.

And if the solution is not applied, the current intermittent violence can only intensify; Mr Arafat's position will be weakened (so strengthening the Islamic bombers of Hamas); and most worryingly, Mr Arafat will be tempted to declare Palestinian statehood. This, more than likely, would herald the breakdown of all remaining Palestinian-Israeli co-operation.