The European Union's top diplomats and their counterparts from Israel and its Arab neighbours gathered this morning to try to revive peace talks.
The two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the 15 EU nations and 12 North African and Mideast states is officially devoted to economic co-operation but has been overshadowed by the violence in the Middle East.
Seven years after it began, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership worth $4.8 billion in European aid and $6.6 billion in soft loans from 2000 to 2006 remains an unfulfilled promise.
The EU has invested goodwill and money into countries along the southern and eastern rims of the Mediterranean since 1995 to shore up peace efforts but has little to show for it.
With Israeli-Palestinian fighting the worst in decades, an European Union-Mideast free trade area remains a very long-term goal given the poor economic performance of most states on the Mediterranean's southern and eastern rims.
Europe also continues to suffer from a low-profile as peacemaker, even as US mediation appears to be getting scant results.
Tomorrow, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose country holds the EU presidency, is to meet separately with Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres and Mr Nabil Shaat, an aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Mr Pique will repeat calls for a ceasefire and peace talks.