But it's not what happened in Sharm El-Sheikh that most concerns Israelis and Palestinians. It's what didn't happen.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat didn't hold face-to-face talks. Nor did the estranged peace partners sign an agreement or even publicly shake hands. Instead, President Clinton simply read a statement at a press conference and refused to answer questions.

After Clinton announced the deal, Barak's spokesman issued a press release stating "the goals of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference have been achieved." But those words convinced no one in the wrecked streets of Palestinian towns, the fortified settlements of the West Bank and Gaza or the shopping malls of Israel, half-deserted by shoppers weary of terrorist attacks.

"It's just something on paper, that's it," said Hussam Shaheen, International Secretary of Arafat's Fatah Party youth organization. "I don't think it will change anything on the street because the Palestinian people don't trust paper anymore. The main problem is political and they only talked about security," Shaheen said.

The Palestinians had been demanding a full international inquiry into the causes of the recent unrest, but the Clinton-brokered agreement fell short of that desire. It established instead a loosely defined fact-finding committee, which will be set up by the U.S., the Israelis, the Palestinians and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Clinton's statement also called for a return to the "situation that existed prior to the current crisis," a Camp David status quo that was deeply unsatisfactory to the Palestinians and, beyond Ariel Sharon's perceived provocation on Sept. 28, the underlying cause of the current unrest.

"It's very difficult to ask people to calm down because nothing has changed on the ground," said Shaheen. "The people will listen to the facts not to statements."

Although the agreement at Sharm El-Sheikh called for both sides to issue public statements unequivocally calling for an end to the violence, Arafat made no such call upon his return to Gaza. An end to "incitement" also went unheeded, as Palestinian television continued to broadcast the same martial songs and slow-motion footage of funerals and marches before and after the announcement.

"It hasn't stopped, there's no change on television," said Bissam Abu Ramadan, a news aide in Gaza.

The sounds in the street were unchanged too. Various Palestinian political factions and militia leaders vowed to continue the fight. "This agreement is not binding," said Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the militant Islamic group Hamas, "because it is imposed from America and Israel on the Palestinian people and does not represent the demands of our people and we will continue in resisting the occupation."

"This intifada started for Al-Aksa (the revered Jerusalem mosque). But today it is an intifada for independence," said Shaheen.

Thousands of Palestinians marched Tuesday against the idea of a cease-fire agreement, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of casualties in the current crisis have been on the Palestinian side. On the contrary, those human losses fuel a need for revenge or, at the very least, real political gains. In the minds of Palestinians, if life returns to what it was before the violence erupted, it would mean that 100 Palestinian lives were sacrificed in vain.

In this context, "Arafat is not going to put himself at risk," said Shaheen, by going against the will of his people and calling for an end of hostilities as long as basic Palestinian aspirations aren't met.

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