The abyss between the diplomats who scurried back and forth from Jerusalem to Ramallah, and the poor corner of Gaza City where a 20-year-old died in fighting between Palestinians yesterday, could not have been greater.
With an Israeli ultimatum ticking away and his own population increasingly against him, Mr Yasser Arafat is in one of the worst predicaments of his 32 years as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. His survival depends on his ability to bridge the chasm.
Mr Arafat is under virtual house arrest since the Israelis destroyed his helicopter pad and much of his Ramallah office building earlier in the week. The US special envoy, Mr Anthony Zinni, called on Mr Arafat to see what progress he'd made in arresting the 36 "terrorists" whose detention is demanded by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Palestinian Authority claims to have arrested 180 activists since 28 people were killed in Hamas suicide bombings last weekend. But the Israelis said only "four or five" of those arrested were on their wanted list.
Yet Mr Arafat's attempts to comply with Israeli demands sparked confrontations between Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza early yesterday.
In the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, several hundred men from Palestinian Military Security retreated from the home of the blind and crippled Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the extremist movement Hamas, after 2,000 of the Sheikh's supporters rushed to help him. A Hamas supporter was shot dead in the ensuing four-hour street battle.
Two men were wounded and a police vehicle was burned. Israeli officials said Sheikh Ahmed was not among the men they asked Mr Arafat to arrest. Members of Mr Arafat's security forces had to fight off protesters from Tanzim, the military wing of Mr Arafat's Fatah organisation, when they arrested a man in Bethlehem.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence that began when Mr Sharon made a provocative visit to the Haram al Sharif on September 28th, 2000, including at least 806 Palestinians and 222 Israelis. Hamas - and its murderous tactics - now appear to be more popular than Mr Arafat in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.
"Every time there's a bombing in Israel, you can see the joy on people's faces in the streets of Gaza," said an unemployed university graduate. "It's not that we want to see innocent people killed, but because they kill us and occupy our land."
