The fragile Middle East peace process was plunged back into deep crisis last night, after a day of violence in the West Bank and in Jerusalem. The Israeli government, infuriated by attacks by Palestinian mobs on two Israeli cars, issued fresh preconditions for further territorial compromise. The Palestinians, themselves infuriated by the stabbing to death of an East Jerusalem Arab, apparently by a Jewish attacker, promptly rejected the new terms.
The Israeli cabinet met in special session last night after television footage was broadcast all evening of Palestinian students, north of Ramallah, attacking an Israeli car at a major junction. Dozens of students converged on the vehicle, throwing huge rocks first through the driver's window and then the other windows. The driver, Jerusalemite Yehuda Olivah, fled the vehicle as the attackers closed in. A soldier, Asaf Miyarah, in the passenger seat, struggled to get out of the car, which was still moving, failed to extricate himself, and was surrounded by the Palestinians as the car came to a halt. They grabbed his gun, and he finally got away.
The final result of the incident - two Israelis hurt, one Israeli car smashed and later burned, and a gun grabbed and subsequently returned to the Israelis - was, relatively speaking, not especially critical but because TV cameras were on hand - Palestinian cameramen were filming what had begun as a march by students to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails - there was rare, expert footage of the incident.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has been fighting increasing opposition, from within his own coalition, to the Wye Summit deal he signed with the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, in October. Israel last month carried out the first of three West Bank troop withdrawals mandated by the deal, and the next is due on December 16. However, in the light of the latest violence and internal opposition, it was no great surprise that the cabinet last night issued fresh preconditions for further land hand-overs.
The cabinet, in a statement, demanded that Mr Arafat make publicly clear that he does not intend to unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood next May (as he has been indicating he might), that the Palestinians withdraw their demands for the release from Israeli jails of prisoners convicted of violence against Israelis, that the Palestinian leadership cease anti-Israeli incitement, and that the perpetrators of yesterday's attack, filmed in the act, be arrested.
Palestinian leaders promptly rejected these demands.
Mr Ahmed Tibi, an adviser to Mr Arafat, said that Mr Netanyahu was merely "seeking excuses" to torpedo the Wye deal. The Palestinians, simultaneously, are calling for tougher action by Israel to counter Jewish militants: 14-year-old Osama Natsche was stabbed to death in the mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood of Abu Tor yesterday morning in an attack that Israeli police suspect was carried out by a Jewish extremist.