The Israeli Prime Minister has bowed to US pressure by going further than he has gone before in committing himself to a viable Palestinian state. Mr Ariel Sharon was attending a Middle East summit with President Bush and the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas.
The meeting, in the Jordanian port of Aqaba, was described by all parties as a "moment of opportunity" to rediscover the path to peace.
However, even before the Israeli Prime Minister delivered his speech at the end of the summit, his government issued "clarifications" saying he did not mean what he said.
Mr Bush hailed the meeting, his most direct involvement to date in the latest Middle East peace process, as firmly launching the US- led "road map" to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
"All here today now share a goal: the Holy Land must be shared between the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, living at peace with each other and with every nation of the Middle East," he said. "If all sides fulfil their obligations, I know that peace can finally come."
Mr Sharon committed Israel to the creation of a viable Palestinian state on contiguous territory and to take the first step along the road by dismantling illegal Jewish outposts in the occupied territories.
"It is in Israel's interest not to govern the Palestinians, but for the Palestinians to govern themselves in their own state. A democratic Palestinian state fully at peace with Israel will promote the long-term security and well-being of Israel as a Jewish state," he said.
Mr Abbas declared an end to the intifada of the past 33 months which has claimed about 3,000 lives and led to reoccupation and destruction of Palestinian towns. He also repeated his pledge to combat terrorism - a promise the Israelis say they take seriously. "We do not ignore the suffering of the Jews throughout history. It is time to bring all this suffering to an end," he said.
Crucially, Mr Bush said the US would take control of monitoring whether the two sides were fulfilling their commitments under the road map, removing an important area of contention: an Israeli demand to judge whether the Palestinians were doing enough to curb violence.
Mr Bush said the US monitoring would be led by an experienced diplomat, Mr John Wolf, and that his National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, would be his personal representative. In addition, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, would make Middle East peace "a matter of the highest priority".
The statements however were revealing for what was left out. Most notably, no mention was made of Israel's 14 objections to the road map which Mr Sharon said were a "red line" that could not be crossed. Neither was any mention made of Mr Sharon's earlier demand that the Palestinians had to renounce any right of return by refugees to Israel before the road map could be implemented.
However, Mr Sharon's office already had a clarification to his commitment prepared before he made his speech yesterday. It said that when he referred to a Palestinian state, he meant one which met conditions he had laid down such as being demilitarised and the only home for Palestinian refugees.
But these were deemed to be problems for another day as all parties spoke of opportunity and hope, although cautiously after the failure of earlier peace deals and the resulting bloodshed and misery.
"I do think what we heard today goes a long way towards helping us achieve a better future," the Palestinian foreign minister, Mr Nabil Sha'ath, said. "It could be just a happy moment or it could be the road to peace. The proof will be what happens on the ground tomorrow."
As a first step, Mr Sharon pledged to begin removing immediately "unauthorised outposts" of Jewish settlers dotted on hilltops across the West Bank, but the more difficult issue of the established settlements will be put off for at least two years until final status negotiations.