Egyptian, Palestinian and Saudi officials have in the past week welcomed what they see as the start of a US push to end 19 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence and restarting talks.
In January, when President Bush celebrated his first anniversary in office, the Arabs were complaining he was paying only lip service to the Palestinian cause and caving in to Israel's right wing.
However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mr Ahmed Maher yesterday spoke of a "positive development" in US peacemaking efforts.
The United States showed its "biased position toward Israel is changing" by declaring support anew for a Palestinian state after the Israeli Likud party's central committee on Sunday rejected the creation of such a state, he said.
"When we compare the US administration's current position and the one it had when it came to power, we now find it wants to undertake steps after it had only wanted to look at the situation from afar," Mr Maher said.
The Bush administration has taken a more active role since the Israeli government began its offensive in the West Bank on March 29th, provoking Arab rage and warnings US interests were at stake.
"America has learned the price of leaving the Middle East without a policy; that led to a disaster for the Palestinians, Arabs, the Israelis," Egyptian diplomat Mr Tahsin Bashir said.
"Bush started reacting positively to [Saudi Crown] Prince Abdullah's ideas, to the Arab willingess to offer Israel a collective peace," he said, referring to a Saudi initiative adopted at an Arab summit in Beirut in March.
Saudi Foreign Minister Mr Saud al-Faisal told journalists in Cairo last week that peace seemed "closer at hand" partly because of the "determination" that Prince Abdullah saw in Mr Bush.
AFP