Israeli and Palestinian leaders are engaged in what is being called a verbal "battle for Jerusalem", the heart of the decades-old dispute between the two peoples, as tension rises at the peace summit at Camp David in Maryland.
Officially, a news blackout is still being maintained by the Clinton administration, with White House spokespeople refusing to comment on the content of discussions.
Instead, the White House officials are confining themselves to banal observations about how hard it is proving to bridge the gaps, and to wry comments concerning how few hours sleep President Clinton, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Yasser Arafat, are getting at night.
But since the delegations inside Camp David are liasing with colleagues and advisers outside, word is leaking out. Specifically, last night, it was being reported that the Palestinians are prepared in principle to see some of the largest Jewish settlements, such as Ma'aleh Adumin and Efrat, located in the West Bank not far from Jerusalem, coming under Israeli sovereignty, but are insisting that, in return, Israel must grant full Palestinian sovereignty in the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem and much of the Old City.
While Mr Barak was said to be willing to concede to Palestinian "autonomy" or "authority" in these neighbourhoods, he was not reported to be prepared to cede "sovereignty". And there, as of last night, even though legal experts were said to be drafting various texts of potential agreements, the Jerusalem talks were reported to be in deadlock.
According to Mr Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab Knesset member, Mr Arafat - frustrated at Mr Barak's position - was getting ready to throw up his hands and abandon the summit.
According to Israel Television, Mr Abu Mazen, Mr Arafat's deputy, was dismissing this assertion - even though Mr Abu Mazen himself would rather like to leave Camp David in the near future, since his son is getting married in Ramallah, in the West Bank, tomorrow. There were also conflicting and unsubstantiated reports about President Clinton's imminent trip to the G8 summit meeting of world leaders in Japan. Some suggested that he had postponed his departure, scheduled for today, and had even ordered preparations at the East Room of the White House for some kind of ceremony; others that he was leaving as planned.
The plane taking White House correspondents to Japan, however, was definitely delayed; it had been scheduled to depart last night.
After eight consecutive days of intensive negotiation, there can be no doubt of the seriousness of the effort being made on all sides to reach an agreement that would resolve the bitter Israeli-Palestinian dispute once and for all.
But, as at the start of this summit last Tuesday, it remains hard to see how even the most persuasive of peace brokers - and Mr Clinton is certainly persuasive - can steer Mr Arafat and Mr Barak towards an agreement that would prove acceptable to both the Israeli and Palestinian mainstream.
Even if Mr Barak were prepared to agree the more dramatic concessions on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugee rights that might pave the way to a deal, and Mr Arafat to respond in kind, the Israeli prime minister would be hard-pressed to win the necessary parliamentary or public approval, and the Palestinian Authority president would be vilified, and worse, for his moderation.
Mr Barak's position is already under serious threat. He heads a minority government, and he will have to struggle to defeat an opposition motion of no-confidence, to be debated in the Knesset on Monday.
The prime minister is also now coming under strong opposition criticism for taking a private businessman, Mr Yossi Ginossar, to Camp David with him - despite the apparent conflict of interests stemming from Mr Ginossar's numerous business dealings with the Palestinian Authority.
Similarly, Mr Barak is being lambasted for his employment of several bright young media advisers to manage his public relations effort at this summit. In apparent breach of proper procedure, these advisers have been working out of Israel's embassy in Washington, giving orders to public employees.
Embarrassingly, the director of the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Yossi Kuchik, filed a declaration to the Supreme Court yesterday, denying that this was the case. Television stations promptly broadcast film of the advisers at work, making a mockery of Mr Kuchik's assertions.
Worse still for Mr Barak, some of these same advisers are already under investigation for alleged illegalities in the election campaign that brought him to power last year.