A journey of a thousand miles begins, the Chinese say, with a single step. And so the tentative, heavily hedged step by the Israeli cabinet on to the path set out by the international "road map" must be welcomed.
In the short term it has made possible the convening of a trilateral peace summit next week, probably in Jordan, involving President Bush, and the Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers, Mr Ariel Sharon and Mr Mahmoud Abbas.
The decision of a government seen as openly hostile to the Oslo process, to accept in principle a framework process that will lead to the establishment by 2005 of a Palestinian state is an historic one, difficult to retreat from. There is still plenty of room for foot dragging, however - a majority was secured only after Mr Sharon said the 14 reservations Israel has submitted to the US are red lines on which Israel will not compromise. And the Minister for Defence, Mr Shaul Mofaz, insisted ominously yesterday that "we did not vote on an international agreement. In fact, this is not a legal document, there is no sort of commitment here, rather this is a declaration of diplomatic intentions." The Israeli media, not surprisingly, are deeply sceptical.
The coalition government will certainly pay a political price for withdrawing its military from territory occupied since 1967 and confronting illegal settler communities. The settlers have promised mass demonstrations and some of their leaders have been using language not heard since extremists whipped up the assassins of Yitzhak Rabin. One former Knesset member, Mr Elyakim Haetzni, a Hebron resident, accused the Cabinet of "national treason" and, asked about majority poll backing for the road map, responded "Yes, of course. And the Jews also willingly boarded those trains, believing everything that the Germans told them ... It is a people that has brought Holocausts down on itself throughout the course of its history."
Mr Sharon has confessed that "this is not a happy decision" but is said to have been convinced of Mr Bush's serious engagement now that Iraq is "dealt with". He does not want Israel seen as responsible for the collapse of the "road map" and has firmly lobbed the ball back into the Palestinian court. Mr Abbas now has to show his mettle.
Commitments have been made. The next steps for Mr Bush are now probably even more difficult - to persuade both sides to move ahead despite the daily provocations they will inevitably face, and to find some agreed means of monitoring/enforcing adherence. That may be a role that the EU could help to play.