In another sign that international patience with Israel has almost - but not entirely - run out, the UN Security Council has strongly criticised Israel's recent decision to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem, but stopped short of issuing a resolution condemning the move.
The Security Council's "Presidential Statement," issued at a Monday night meeting in New York, said that the Israeli government had initiated "a serious and damaging development" last month, when it voted to extend partial municipal authority to some West Bank settlements near Jerusalem and to extend full municipal authority to a number of suburbs inside sovereign Israel. It urged Israel not to proceed with the expansion of Jerusalem.
The statement represented a compromise brokered by the United States. Arab diplomats, noting that the final status of Jerusalem has yet to be negotiated by the Israelis and the Palestinians, had pressed for a Security Council resolution demanding that the Israeli decision be reversed.
Such a resolution would have been backed by international law. US diplomats argued that it would be counter-productive, further entrenching hardline Israeli resistance to peace efforts.
The Security Council move comes just a week after another UN compromise - a decision to meet only some of the Palestinians' demands for the upgrading of their UN delegation's status. This week, as last, Israeli and Arab diplomats were directly at odds, and the US brokered a deal that left both sides claiming victory.
The US readiness to mediate such compromises, and the international community's preparedness to accept them, reflects a widely felt desire to make one last effort to salvage Israeli-Arab peace moves.
Although the Clinton administration is closer than it has ever been to formally declaring the Middle East peace process dead and buried it has issued a final, desperate call to Israel to accept its "package deal" for resuscitating the process.
"The ball is not in the Palestinian court. The ball is in the court of the Israelis," the State Department's spokesman stressed on Monday. "We have a yes [to the peace package] from the Palestinians. And we are looking to get ourselves in a position to where the Israelis can say Yes as well."
To that end, the US is trying to arrange for talks later this week between Israel's Defence Minister, Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, and Mr Yasser Arafat's deputy, Mr Abu Mazen. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, is giving mixed signals on both issues
AFP adds: The Israeli state prosecutor's office has said it will open an investigation into accusations that Mr Netanyahu tried to influence the trial of a businessman convicted of selling weapons to Iran and possibly press criminal charges. Mr Netanyahu is accused of telephoning the presiding judge during the trial to demand a harsh sentence for the businessman.