The Hamas suicide bombing atrocity in which 21 Tel Aviv teenagers were murdered last Friday appears to have convinced the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, that he must enforce an effective ceasefire in the intifada rebellion against Israel. He came under tremendous European and American pressure to do so immediately after the bombing. There has since been real evidence that Palestinian Authority police have been active on the ground putting the ceasefire in place. This is despite the refusal of Hamas and other groups to accept it, Israel's attempts to impose additional conditions on its implementation and Mr Ariel Sharon's intemperate denunciation of Mr Arafat as a "murderer and pathological liar".
The rest of the world has been sufficiently alarmed about a drift to war in the Middle East over recent weeks that it has actively intervened in an effort to head it off. The group chaired by Mr George Mitchell brought together a heavyweight team of statesmen, producing a report that built on several efforts to mediate between the Palestinians and Israelis by the Jordanian and Egyptian governments, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan. A cessation of violence, a freeze in Israeli settlement activity and a return to the agenda of negotiations established last year in the talks brokered by President Clinton are common elements in these peace initiatives.
The last few days have seen unprecedented pressure from Europe on Mr Arafat to put an effective ceasefire in place. The German foreign minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, told him, after the bombing, that he could forget about Europe unless he did so. This signalled a new, more determined German involvement, backed up by the EU's foreign policy executive, Mr Javier Solana, and other officials. They have been working in concert with the Bush administration, which is sending the head of the CIA, Mr George Tenet, to the region with a brief to tackle the security aspect of a ceasefire. It is likely that the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, will follow.
Mr Arafat would be well advised to stick to the course set out in the last few days after the Tel Aviv atrocity. His degree of success in imposing a ceasefire will test the proposition put forward by Israeli hard liners that he has total control over the level of violence. A shrewder calculation would lead him to the conclusion that a period of relative calm would expose deep divisions within the Israeli coalition between those supporting efforts to revive the peace process and hardliners around Mr Sharon who oppose it. Now that such powerful international actors have become so involved, there is potential advantage for the Palestinians in playing such a responsible role.
By the same token, the Israeli government would be well advised to withhold sanction for any all-out retaliation, as called for by some of its coalition parties, or provoked by such events as the rampage by West Bank settlers against a Palestinian village yesterday. The potentially dreadful consequences of an all-out escalation of violence give all involved an urgent opportunity to reactivate the peace process.