The Middle East holds its breath today to see whether what Hamas militants are calling a "Day of Rage" plunges Israel and the Palestinians into still deeper conflict. Fighting in the past eight days has seen the deaths of more than 60 Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
By the horrific standards of the past week, yesterday was relatively tranquil on the various battlefronts: by nightfall, "only" two Palestinians had been reported killed at the bloodiest flashpoint, the junction at Gaza's isolated Netzarim settlement, and a third outside Bethlehem in the West Bank.
And while there were exchanges of gunfire at half-a-dozen places in the West Bank, Israel moved back its tanks, and the Palestinian police were conspicuously intervening to restrain their protesters.
Today, however, is Friday, which means prayers in the mosques of the Palestinian and Israeli Arab areas, and atop Temple Mount. Last week 20,000 worshippers gathered, and clashes with Israeli security forces exploded the moment they emerged from al-Aksa mosque. Today Israeli police plan to "filter" the crowds coming to Jerusalem from the West Bank to keep younger Palestinians away, an operation that, in itself, could exacerbate the sky-high tension.
The discernible fall-off in violence yesterday was the apparent consequence of an agreement reached, but not signed, in Paris on Wednesday. A day of negotiations brokered by the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, seemed set to end in the triumphant initialling of a ceasefire agreement, but the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, unexpectedly opted to head off to bed rather than the signing ceremony.
Nevertheless, Israeli and Palestinians officers held a series of meetings yesterday morning, and their co-ordination bore some fruit, in the West Bank if not in Gaza.
Mr Arafat and Ms Albright flew on to Sharm al-Sheikh yesterday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, flew home and declared he was no longer sure that Israel had "a peace partner at this time". He pledged to press ahead with efforts to reach a permanent treaty with Mr Arafat, but warned that, if he failed, Israel would have to "unite to face hard times ahead".
Mr Arafat, who spoke yesterday of the need "to stop these attacks on our women, on our children," plainly doubts that he has a partner either in Mr Barak. His anger in Paris stemmed from Mr Barak's refusal to countenance an independent international inquiry into the fighting; even Israel's own State Comptroller, Mr Eliezer Goldberg, called yesterday for an investigation into the killing last Saturday of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durra at Netzarim, and other aspects of the clashes.
Mr Arafat's attitude to Hamas's "Day of Rage" may be gauged by the fact that he quietly freed about a dozen top Hamas activists from jails in Gaza on Wednesday. Rumours are flying that he is contemplating declaring Palestinian statehood any day now; confident of far greater international support than he would have received until this violence broke out, when he was widely perceived as the intransigent leader resisting US and Israeli proposals for sharing Jerusalem.
Mr Barak, for his part, is contemplating establishing some kind of emergency government if the violence does not subside.
Such a government would bring Mr Ariel Sharon, the rightwing opposition leader whose visit to the Temple Mount last week triggered the fighting, into power. It would likely see the departure of such committed peacemakers as the Justice Minister, Mr Yossi Beilin, and the effective burial of any lingering peace hopes.
The tense situation in the Middle East means that nonessential travel between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza "is not recommended", the Department of Foreign Affairs has warned. Irish people are advised to avoid the Old City and East Jerusalem in the coming days, "and in particular Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem".