An afternoon of clashes in Bethlehem, after an Israeli soldier had shot dead a Palestinian who he said tried to stab him, overshadowed but did not obscure a dramatic step forward in Israeli-Palestinian relations yesterday: the opening of the first "safe passage" route across Israel, enabling Palestinians to travel between Gaza and the West Bank.
As an Israeli soldier peered under the bonnet of his car, apparently checking that no explosives had been tucked behind the battery, Mr Mousa Saadeh, the first Gazan permitted to drive the 28 miles from Gaza's Erez crossing to the Tarkumiyah crossing point into the West Bank, expressed his delight to be leaving Gaza "for the first time in five years". That Mr Saadeh, mayor of the Gaza town of Bani Suheila, hadn't left the Gaza Strip since 1994 underlined the complexities formerly involved in getting Israeli permission to exit - and the easing of such constraints.
About 400 Palestinians made the journey across Israel to the West Bank yesterday, in cars and Israeli-escorted buses. Soon it is anticipated that 1,000 Palestinians will be travelling every day and a second Gaza-West Bank corridor is due to be opened within months.
Israel retains overall responsibility for issuing the necessary passes. Nevertheless, Mr Saadeh described the new corridor as a "step toward geographic unity between the West Bank and Gaza" - and thus, by extension, a major step toward independent Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian enthusiasm for the belated opening of the Erez-Tarkumiyah corridor was dulled somewhat yesterday afternoon, however, when word spread of a killing outside Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem.
An Israeli military spokesman said that the soldier who shot dead a young Palestinian had acted "exactly as he should have, since his life was in danger". Palestinians claim the incident was unprovoked. The shooting prompted several hours of clashes around Rachel's Tomb. Ten Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber bullets. A soldier and an Israeli civilian were also hurt.
Israel was last night preparing to deport about 20 Christian fundamentalists - many of whom have been here for several months and whose visas have expired - because of fears that they might foment violence in advance of the millennium.