MIDDLE EAST: Improbable though it may seem after a 12-day period in which more than 60 Israelis and Palestinians have been killed, Israeli and Palestinian officials were yesterday again talking up the prospect of an intifada "ceasefire" following a flurry of security contacts over the weekend.
And with President Bush reiterating his commitment to making a success of the wilting "road map" and urging an international effort to thwart Hamas and others who would destroy peace hopes, there was even speculation last night that Israel might soon withdraw its troops from the northern Gaza Strip, restoring control there to the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, has been engaged in new talks with Hamas, the Islamic extremist group responsible for last week's suicide-bombing in Jerusalem in which 17 Israelis were killed. Aides to Mr Abbas, who has also been backed by Egyptian mediators, indicated yesterday that they were making progress.
And while one Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, whom Israel attempted to assassinate last week, is still adamant that a ceasefire is out of the question, the Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, made a series of relatively conciliatory comments about willingness, given a series of preconditions, to suspend "resistance" in certain areas.
The slightly moderated tone from some Hamas leaders may reflect their recognition that they are now in a fight, literally, for their lives, following what has been a dramatic change of Israeli policy towards the group over the past few days, and a changed American attitude, too.
In the wake of the June 4th Aqaba summit, Hamas broke off truce talks with Mr Abbas, accusing him of having "sold out" the Palestinians with his conciliatory summit speech.
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon switched at this point to a much-intensified policy of targeting Hamas leaders; it has carried out seven helicopter-led missile attacks on Hamas targets - killing some, wounding others, and killing numerous civilian bystanders as well.
But while the first of these strikes, on Mr Rantisi last Tuesday, was angrily condemned by Mr Bush, the US president, far from repeating such criticism since, is now endorsing Israel's attempts to smash Hamas and is urging Mr Abbas and the rest of the international community to follow suit.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Bush said that the entire "free world, and those who love freedom and peace, must deal harshly with Hamas and the killers". He added that while he still believed peace was "possible", there would be more violence "until these people are brought to justice - those who will kill innocent people in order to deny the establishment of a Palestinian state".
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, charged by Mr Bush with overseeing the "road map" process, pledged that the US would continue its efforts to achieve progress. And a highly-influential American legislator, Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a TV interviewer that the US might even deploy its own troops as part of an international force to try to stop attacks by Hamas.
The north of the Gaza Strip has been selected as the first possible site of an Israeli pullback and a re-entry by Palestinian Authority security forces because Mr Abbas's minister of security, Mr Mohammad Dahlan, is particularly strong in that area, and as well because the Israeli army has manifestly failed in its stated mission there - to halt Hamas rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. At least four Qassam rockets were fired across the border yesterday.
In security contacts with Israel, Mr Dahlan has demanded that the Israeli army also pull back from one or more West Bank cities, with Bethlehem seen as the most likely. The Palestinian Authority has also urged Israel to end the wave of assassinations of Hamas leaders.
Mr Sharon reportedly told his cabinet yesterday that he would continue to approve the targeting of so-called "ticking bombs" - bombers en route to an attack - but that he might be prepared to suspend strikes on other targets. "If no one fires on us, we will not return fire, except in cases of ticking bombs," he was quoted as saying.
In northern Gaza on Saturday, Israeli undercover troops shot dead a gunman from the al-Aqsa Brigades during exchanges of fire. In Gaza yesterday, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians who, the army said, were throwing hand-grenades.
Mr Sharon is continuing to dismantle a few isolated settlement outposts in accordance with commitments he gave at Aqaba. But, of about 10 removed so far, settlers are said to have resurrected half.