More from Nablus

A Nabulsi shopkeeper just told me that two labourers were shot dead near the Awarta checkpoint, just a couple of hours ago. He said they were tending the land there and were shot unprovoked. The official line is that soldiers were attacked with pitchforks and gunned them down. Who knows. Two Palestinians carrying gardening equipment deciding to attack soldiers a stone's throw from a settlement? Perhaps we'll hear more.

Speaking to a chap in church this morning, there's a belief that the Israeli strategy is to provoke a third intifada so that they can escape the pressure currently being applied - if rather equivocally - by the US. It's a pretty credible thesis.

I should say, Nablus is a picture this afternoon. Bustling, colourful, warm with a breeze. The sight of people doing people things, selling their wares, keeping their children under control, repairing their cars, becomes a life affirming, positive picture in this situation. The mundane takes on a rare profundity.

I also had a good conversation with a student at An-Najah University. She said day to day life here is much better, but that the political situation, though less immediately destructive, is undermining all hopes of long term reconciliation.

One final observation: Fatah aren't just more dominant here than they were, Hamas have practically disappeared. Or should I say, they've been disappeared. Even in the student council nobody openly represents the Islamic Resistance. All the martyr posters are of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade members. All the flags are Fatah or PFLP. It's quite weird, bearing in mind the dominance of Hamas when I was last here.

I would imagine Fatah are storing up a fair bit of resentment for the future.