Events are moving rapidly in the Middle East to create the conditions for a constructive reopening of negotiations on an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Yesterday's conference in London brought together most of the parties who can contribute to strengthening the Palestinian Authority - with the major and conspicuous exception of Israel.
The commitments made there are intended to feed into reconstituting the road map towards a peace agreement abandoned last year. As British prime minister Tony Blair told the conference, the issues are not confined to Israel, to Palestine or even to the Middle East, but will have worldwide effects.
The rapid changes in Lebanon bear out his case. Monday's decision by Omar Karami's government to resign in the face of a powerful street movement appalled at the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, dramatically increases pressure on Syria to withdraw from the country. Most Lebanese believe the Syrians were responsible for his murder because he had moved closer to the opposition position that they should withdraw. The United States and France yesterday repeated their call on Syria to do so. Syrian president Bashir Assad says they cannot pull out while Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights and before a peace agreement is reached on this question.
Such a linkage could help accelerate progress in Israeli-Palestinian talks. If this is to happen it will require skilful co-ordination of policy among the quartet with responsibility for the road map - the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
There was evidence at yesterday's meeting in London that it could be forthcoming. While the quartet insisted that the Palestinians must take serious steps to rein in those responsible for suicide bombings in Israel, they pledged support for an evenly balanced approach to renewed peace negotiations. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said the Israelis must take no steps that would prejudice a final settlement and help ensure that a Palestinian state would be truly viable, especially by being territorially contiguous. These are welcome statements of policy, which must be backed up by steady US pressure on Israel.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was reluctant to attend yesterday's meeting but can feel justified that he did so. He used it as a platform to announce necessary security reforms - but also to insist that a security agenda must be accompanied by a coherent political track towards settlement talks.
This is the crux of the matter. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza was conceived to avoid peace talks and consolidate Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Events in regional and world politics have transformed that agenda and reactivated realistic expectations for a settlement. It will take joint action and political will of a high order to deliver on this worthwhile goal.