While they welcome Tuesday's proclamation by the new Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, that he wants a "peace of the brave" for the region, the Arabs remain wary of his intentions.
His diplomatic blitz of meetings with the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan has not convinced the Arabs that Mr Barak intends to achieve a comprehensive peace on all three remaining fronts.
The Jordan Times summed up the Arab attitude in an editorial, saying his Knesset address was "a good beginning", but it was necessary to wait and see what he did on the ground.
Dr Ghassan Khatib, a leading Palestinian commentator based in Jerusalem, told The Irish Times Mr Barak "is in a very strong position. The future of his government's policy depends solely on him because by playing off right against left in his cabinet he has secured complete control".
But this does not mean Mr Barak will make the concessions necessary for progress on the Palestinian track, the core of the Arab-Israeli dispute.
In Dr Khatib's view, Mr Barak "is not obliged to focus on the Palestinian track because there is no pressure on him from the Palestinian side, while he is compelled to achieve progress on the Lebanese and Syrian tracks because of pressure from these sides.
"Sources round Arafat tell me he is not optimistic, in fact he is angry", Dr Khatib said. Mr Barak has stated repeatedly that he would not withdraw from all of the West Bank and Gaza, permit the Palestinians to make East Jerusalem the capital of their state, allow the return to Palestine of large numbers of refugees or uproot or reduce Israeli settlements in the territories.
Mr Barak's determination to permit the "natural expansion" of settlements has particularly upset the Palestinian leader, Dr Khatib said. Mr Barak also opposes a mediatory role for the US which both Palestinians and Syrians deem essential for progress. The Prime Minister wants the US to play the part of postman, carrying messages from one side to the other.
Arab commentators predict Mr Barak will pull Israel's forces out of south Lebanon, ending the conflict with Hizbullah, and return the entire Golan to Syria.
Once these tasks have been concluded at considerable cost to his conflicted coalition, Arab analysts say, Mr Barak will rest on his laurels, content to go down in history as the man who closed down the Lebanese occupation zone comprising the final belligerent Arab front with the Jewish state and made peace with its most obdurate foe, Syria.
