The broad sweep of diplomacy that has accompanied military preparations for a response to the terrorist attacks in the United States are affecting many regions of conflict throughout the world. None is more important than that between Israel and the Palestinians. It will be impossible for a widely inclusive coalition to be constructed against the groups responsible, and states supporting them, if that conflict continues to embitter attitudes towards the United States in Arab and Muslim states which blame it for supporting Israel.
In that context yesterday's meeting between the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat and the Israeli foreign minister, Mr Shimon Peres, is highly significant as a response to US and European pressure to calm the violence down. Their agreement to reinforce the ceasefire called last week, to restore security co-operation and to meet again in a week or so, is welcome; but it would be very foolish to think this can lead on easily to a restored peace process, picking up the pieces from earlier this year before Mr Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister.
Together with the virtually complete collapse of trust arising from continuing violence, deadly suicide attacks on Israeli civilians and the Israeli occupation, Mr Sharon's election signalled a mood of intransigence and disenchantment that makes most observers deeply pessimistic about the possibility of reviving the peace process. It is matched on the Palestinian side by a growing determination to keep the intifada rebellion going until the Israelis withdraw from the occupied territories. Opinion polls show a large majority of Palestinians prepared to continue the intifada and a marked swing away from Mr Arafat's Fatah party towards Islamist and Hamas radicals. This makes the prospect of a sustainable Israeli-Palestinian peace process lasting for several months or even years seem foolishly optimistic and liable to continual breakdown.
That reality must be put alongside the talk of a broad and long-lasting coalition against terrorism which, if it is to be successful, must include moderate and traditionalist Muslim states whose populations are outraged by the perceived US backing for Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. Squaring that circle is the ultimate test of the anti-terrorism coalition. If it is seen to be directed against the Islamic world, moderate Muslims are liable to be radicalised and oppose it.
This week's other diplomatic achievement of the emerging coalition, the Saudi decision to break off relations with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, depends critically on calming the Israeli-Palestinian violence and restoring dialogue between them. The European Union and the United Nations must be fully involved in promoting those objectives if they are to have any chance of success. However difficult that task, it must be recognised that so far President Bush and his colleagues have involved these partners constructively in their campaign.