Entirely eschewing the language of diplomacy, Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, yesterday used the Knesset podium to launch the most blistering verbal assault in recent memory on Lebanon. Were Hizbullah guerrillas to fire Katyusha rockets at Israeli cities, he stormed, Israel would wreak a terrible revenge: "Blood for blood, soul for soul, child for child."
His unexpected outburst provoked immediate howls of outrage. Three Arab Knesset members were escorted from the chamber after screaming repeatedly at Mr Levy. And one of Mr Levy's own cabinet colleagues, the Education Minister, Mr Yossi Sarid, accused him of undermining the government's peacemaking aims.
Given that Mr Levy is a relative political moderate, his furious address emphasised the sense of frustration and slipping opportunities now being felt inside the Israeli government. Seven soldiers have been killed by Hizbullah this year, and public pressure is mounting for Israel to withdraw from the "security zone" - the strip of South Lebanon that Israel occupies to keep Hizbullah away from the border.
Mr Levy, in common with most members of the government, supports a withdrawal, but ideally as part of a wider agreement, with Syria and Lebanon, that would also see the disarming of Hizbullah. Hizbullah's leaders have said in the last few days that they would "not make trouble" if Israel left, but the Israeli government is seeking a more concrete assurance than that of border tranquillity.
Mr Levy's Knesset outburst, however, is hardly designed to send Syria and Lebanon rushing back to the negotiating table with Israel. Indeed, it will likely only provoke another round of angry Arab rhetoric. Syria and Lebanon have both been claiming that Mr Ehud Barak's government is "not serious" about peace - a view that is also now being endorsed by the Palestinian leadership and by Egypt.
Palestinian dismay at the lack of progress in peace talks with Israel, indeed, is deepening daily. The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, is now pledging to declare independent statehood this September, whether or not a permanent peace deal with Israel has been achieved by then.
The Americans are indicating that they sympathise rather more with the Palestinians than the Israelis.
A march in Gaza yesterday, organised by Hamas and attended by hundreds, underlined the growing readiness among Palestinians to return to violent resistance if concrete progress is not achieved soon.
Hamas bombs might have been exploding already were it not for the interception in recent weeks of several dozen alleged members of a Hamas gang which, Israeli security officials claim, was planning major blasts on buses and at a Jerusalem apartment building.
Members of the gang had already carried out two minor bombings - in Netanyah last November and Haderah in January - that injured more than 40 Israelis, and one gang member was killed in Nablus earlier this month by the bomb he was assembling.
Israeli police say they began to capture gang members after arresting a Palestinian who "acted suspiciously" when he bought two kippot (Jewish skullcaps) at a stall in Netanyah. Hamas bombers have disguised themselves as Orthodox Jews in previous suicide bombings and in attempts to kidnap soldiers.
Asked by police why he needed the kippot, the man claimed, falsely, to be a theology student doing comparative research on different streams of Judaism.
Extremist Jews have threatened to disrupt the Pope's visit to Israel next month, vilifying him as "the evil one". The banned racist group Kach said it has distributed thousands of posters in religious areas in Jerusalem and throughout Israel and is planning to stage demonstrations during the papal tour.