The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday completed what seems to have been a somewhat redundant trip to the Middle East, during which he has managed to achieve a minor refinement of American peace proposals but has also left both Israelis and Palestinians confused about his administration's policy.
As Mr Powell rounded off his trip, meeting Jordanian and Saudi leaders, the only concrete achievement to which he could point was Israel's agreement to reduce from 10 days to seven the period of complete calm it is seeking before it will enter a six week "cooling off" period as set out in the US-backed Mitchell Commission's peace proposals.
Even that "cooling off" period is itself designed as a mere prelude to a further period of up to three months, during which both Israel and the Palestinians are supposed to introduce confidence-building measures, and only then are the two sides supposed to resume peace talks.
On the downside, Mr Powell's visit has created no little bafflement among the parties.
When he arrived, in the wake of the Israeli prime minister's meeting with President Bush, it appeared that US policy would be to try to force Israel to move ahead to the cooling-off period even if violence had not completely halted - provided that Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority was judged to be making a 100 per cent effort to halt such violence.
But to the dismay of the Palestinians, Mr Powell, on arrival, declared that it would be up to the prime minister, Mr Sharon, to decide on how much or how little violence he could live with, and that the administration would not force his hand.
Mr Powell then caused further dismay, this time in Israel, by declaring on Thursday that the United States wanted international observers to monitor Israeli-Palestinian points of friction, despite long-standing American opposition to such a notion. However, no sooner had the Palestinian Authority begun celebrating than Mr Powell, yesterday, backed away, saying yesterday that he did not back the introduction of any international force, but merely "monitors who would operate with the consent of both sides" - presumably, therefore, a joint panel of Americans, Palestinians and Israelis.
Mr Sharon is reported to have told Mr Bush earlier this week that if violence escalated, he might be forced to "topple the Palestinian Authority". If prolonged calm was achieved, however, he would support Palestinian statehood in "an agreed-upon area".
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, met late last night during a reception at the residence of the Portuguese Prime Minister, Mr Antonio Guterres, an official said.
Mr Peres and Mr Arafat are in Lisbon to attend the 50th anniversary conference of the Socialist International.