Whether or not the Camp David peace summit ultimately yields an agreement between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the people on whose behalf these talks are taking place appear to be hardening their positions against compromise.
In Israel, the latest opinion poll, in the Yediot Ahronot daily, showed an overwhelming 70 per cent of Israelis opposing "the return of any part of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians" - even as part of a full and final peace treaty that would formally end the bitter conflict.
In the Palestinian territories, refugees in camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been holding daily rallies that combine messages of support for President Yasser Arafat's perceived unbending positions - the demand for full sovereignty in East Jerusalem and refugees' right of return - with warnings against any compromise. Leaflets circulated by various pro-Arafat groups in the territories this week brand any compromise on refugee rights "a national betrayal".
Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, in a phone call yesterday to his Environment Minister, Mr Dalia Itzik, said he was now "optimistic" that an accord might be attained. His Justice Minister, Mr Yossi Beilin, was vehemently advocating the emerging compromise formula - under which Israel would expand its Jerusalem holdings to encompass nearby settlements such as Ma'aleh Adumim and Efrat, while granting the Palestinians partial or full sovereignty in parts of East Jerusalem such as the Shuafat and Beit Hanina Arab suburbs, leaving the status of the Old City to be resolved at an indefinite date.
"We have to acknowledge something we've avoided for 33 years," said Mr Beilin. "These areas are not our Jerusalem. They are Arab, Palestinian."
But yesterday's opinion poll underlined how substantial is Israeli opposition to this kind of compromise, even though previous polls have shown that many Israelis don't even know where these Arab neighbourhoods are, much less visit them. And should Mr Barak return from Camp David with a deal, he will find opposition politicians confident they can block it - in parliament and in a promised referendum.
Significantly, Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert sneered yesterday that "Barak has capitulated completely". Though a member of the Likud opposition, Mr Olmert had been tacitly backing some of Mr Barak's positions.
To date, Mr Arafat has neither rejected nor accepted the tentative Jerusalem compromise. But his own mufti - senior religious leader - in the city, Mr Ikrema Sabri, yesterday toughened his stance, demanding Palestinian sovereignty throughout the Old City, even over the holiest site in Jerusalem, the Western Wall.
Tellingly, Mr Arafat is said to have told President Clinton a few days ago that, were he to make concessions on Jerusalem, "I'd quickly find myself joining Yitzhak Rabin", the assassinated Israeli prime minister.