Despite the many predictions of impending conflict following the Israeli army's withdrawal from southern Lebanon earlier this week, there were some initial, encouraging signs yesterday that some form of normalcy might be restored to Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Most significant was the statement by the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouk al Shara, that Israel had in fact complied with UN Resolution 425, which calls on the Israeli army to withdraw from southern Lebanon. Mr al Shara, who spoke in Lisbon after a meeting with EU leaders, also said that Damascus, which is the main power-broker in Lebanon where it has stationed 35,000 of its troops, would agree to the deployment of an enlarged UN peacekeeping force in the area vacated by Israel.
But he added that Syria would not agree to the disarming of Hizbullah. (The UN plans almost to double its force in southern Lebanon to 7,900 troops.)
While the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, has warned Damascus that Israel will hold it responsible for attacks on its northern border, Mr al Shara's statements were welcomed yesterday by Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Nawaf Massalhe, who was also in Lisbon, for a meeting of foreign ministers.
UN efforts to ensure quiet along the border also continued yesterday as teams made up of UN cartographers and surveyors began inspecting the 140 km border to verify whether Israel had in fact withdrawn fully to the international line of 1923.
The UN special envoy to the Middle East, Mr Terje RoedLarsen, said yesterday in Beirut: "It is evident that the Israelis are intending and working very hard on complying with Security Council Resolution 425."
Some Israeli leaders were also encouraged by initial signs that the Lebanese army was beginning to send forces to the south. Official members of the Lebanese military, as well as Lebanese policemen, have begun arriving in small numbers at the border.
Mr Barak has been hoping that the Lebanese army will deploy in the south, which is now controlled by a series of militias, with Hizbullah the dominant one.
Some Israeli security officials, however, expressed scepticism over the likelihood that Syria will allow the Lebanese army fully to restore its control over the formerly occupied south.
Hizbullah leaders yesterday again pledged to continue their attacks on Israel if it did not withdraw from an area known as the Shebaa farms, which are on the Syrian border. Hizbullah is also demanding that Israel release Lebanese prisoners in its jails.
The UN, however, has sided with Israel on both these issues, saying that the disputed territory is part of the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, and that neither issue would be considered in its inspection of Israeli compliance.
A Gallup poll published yesterday showed that a massive majority of Israelis - some 75 per cent - believed that the government's decision to withdraw was correct. But the same poll showed that Israelis are still pessimistic about their northern border becoming safe.