A meeting in Jerusalem between the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, scheduled to last half an hour went on for 80 minutes as the two men exchanged frank views on the political and security situation in the Middle East.
Mr Cowen is visiting Israel as a representative of the EU presidency. He was also briefed on the US perspective in a 20-minute phone call from the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, before he left Dublin on Wednesday.
While Mr Sharon gave no ground on security issues and the Israeli government's concern for the security of its citizens, Mr Cowen told reporters afterwards that if security issues could be addressed, he believed Mr Sharon would show some political flexibility.
The Minister said there had been "a good discussion" without any animosity. Mr Sharon made clear he was refusing to compromise in the face of terror, but the Israeli leader also spoke "in general terms" about steps he would consider taking if the security problem was tackled.
"I also made the point to him strongly that Palestinians need a political perspective, they need to know that we can get into a process here which will deliver for both sides," Mr Cowen said. There was "an exchange of views" on the security barrier constructed between Israelis and Palestinians, which is opposed by the EU.
Informed sources described the Cowen-Sharon encounter as "much tougher" than previous meetings yesterday with senior Israeli figures, although the concerns were much the same in all the meetings. Earlier, Mr Cowen met the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Silvan Shalom, for over an hour in Tel Aviv, where they discussed the political situation in the region and bilateral relations between Ireland and Israel.
At a press conference afterwards, Mr Shalom expressed the hope that Irish-Israeli relations would improve, despite past differences. "Even if we were not satisfied by the criticism from Ireland sometimes in the past," he said, "we can work one with each other in order to have better bilateral relations and to have more understanding one with each other, not only during this coming six months (of the EU presidency) but for a long time afterwards."
Asked about the EU's attitude to the UN General Assembly's decision to refer the issue of the legality of the new Israeli security barrier to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Mr Cowen said: "The EU has not made a decision in relation to that matter."
Mr Shalom said Israel was "very upset" by the involvement of the International Court of Justice and did not think this issue should be discussed in that forum. "Relations with the Palestinians should be left to negotiations, one with each other, in order to solve the problems which we are facing," he said.
Involving the ICJ would "damage the chance to make progress in the peace process and to implement the road-map, because it might be that from now on every issue that won't be agreed by us while we negotiate with the Palestinians will be moved to the ICJ and there will be endless situations that won't help us to have any kind of agreement with the Palestinians."
In an interview published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, yesterday, Mr Cowen was quoted as saying that Israel had to give up its "bunker mentality" with regard to the Palestinians and the Arab world in general.
Questioned about this at the press conference, Mr Cowen said: "I was making the point that we need to emphasise all the time that a peace process, if successful, can bring a peace dividend." He added: "Everybody in the region - not just one country, everybody - has to discharge their responsibilities." The current situation could be changed: "No matter how difficult the experience has been up to now, we have to try, try and try again because the present situation, as we all know, is unsustainable and untenable."
Mr Cowen also met the President of Israel, Mr Moshe Katsav, in Jerusalem. Although the meeting was closed to the media, informed sources said the president outlined his view that there were basically two political elements on the Palestinian side, "the constructive and the destructive".
If the "constructive" element prevailed, then a solution to the conflict was possible. But he said the hardline Hamas organisation had a basic position of rejecting any compromise and he claimed no one on the Palestinian side was willing to confront them.
Mr Katsav claimed that the security barrier between the Israelis and Palestinians was a temporary measure.
Today Mr Cowen will meet the head of the opposition Labour Party, Mr Shimon Peres, before departing for Cairo.