In a strong and well-argued speech the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday signalled a fresh American engagement in the Middle East peace process, based on the new realities arising from the international response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. Calling for an immediate end to Palestinian violence and Israeli occupations, he spelled out a vision of a viable Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Israel, based on the land-for-peace formula spelled out in United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 and immediately on the Mitchell ceasefire principles. Put together like this, it is a powerful case, even if many of its individual elements are not new.
That the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a central fact in the worldwide coalition against those responsible for the attacks is fully apparent from the speech, which ranged widely over Middle East problems. Distrust and suspicion of US policy have become so deeply embedded there that it was high time the Bush administration responded comprehensively and directly. Its first nine months were in sharp contrast to the Clinton administration's activism on the Israel-Palestinian issue, which the Bush team tended to deride as unrealistic and over-ambitious. The international crisis arising from September 11th has changed their view, although there remain clear divisions among them on the importance of Israel and how far it should be pressurised. This speech signals how strong Mr Powell's wing of the administration has become as a result of the crisis.
The big question that must be asked is whether there is sufficient that is new in the speech to resolve the impasse between the Israeli government led by Mr Ariel Sharon and Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. If not it will be difficult to convince critical Arab states that the US is determined to force Mr Sharon's hand. Judging by the hostile reception Mr Sharon gave the high-level European Union delegation at the weekend he is in no mood for talks unless there is a full seven-day cessation of violence. But he must take account of the new fact that Mr Powell's speech brings the US and EU positions much closer - including in their common view that such a condition hands the initiative to those who do not want any progress to be made. A concerted effort by the new US envoys appointed yesterday, working with their EU counterparts, could do much to change Mr Sharon's mind. The speech is obviously pitched at the more accommodating perspective associated with his coalition partner, Mr Shimon Peres.
Such an initiative would help convince sceptical Arab and Muslim states that the US means business in aligning its political response more closely to its military one in Afghanistan. Mr Powell's speech placed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict squarely in that context. In pledging full US re-engagement in both arenas he performed an urgent and necessary political and diplomatic task after the hectic military developments of recent days. It will be important that the US works closely with the United Nations in coming days and weeks to bring that to fruition.