For the first time in years, prospects for progress in the Middle East are looking brighter. Preparations for Palestinian elections after Yassir Arafat’s death are going ahead smoothly, and already it looks as though moderates are ready to take full advantage of the opportunities opened by his departure.

In Egypt last week the show of international unity in giving full backing to elections in Iraq has undercut the terrorists and zealots trying to make the country ungovernable. And the recent enthusiasm, in Israel and among Palestinians, for Britain to play a more active role in getting Middle East peace talks going has lent weight to Tony Blair’s coming visit, though much depends on whether extremists in the Palestinian territories maintain their apparent ceasefire.

In those territories, the transfer of power has proved, so far, free of the rancour and violence which many feared would follow Arafat’s death. Mahmoud Abbas, already appointed head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, is set to win the more important post of President of the Palestinian Authority — the post that effectively runs the government in the West Bank and Gaza. As a man who briefly first held the post of prime minister — until Arafat’s interference made his job untenable — he knows what the priorities should be: an end to violence, an accommodation with the Israelis, and better and cleaner government for Palestinians.

Mr Abbas, however, is 69, one of the Palestinians who returned from Tunis with Arafat. He is a man of proven experience and moderation, but lacks both charisma and popular appeal among younger Palestinians. Supporters of Marwan Barghouti, a 45-year-old militant now serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, were hoping he would challenge Mr Abbas for the post, if only to embarrass the Israelis. He has now, apparently ruled this out, making it likely that Mr Abbas, who would clearly set the Palestinian Authority on a firmer footing, will be elected.

So far, the Israelis have handled the post-Arafat situation calmly. They have announced that all roadblocks will be lifted to allow a free election. And they have allowed Palestinians to recognise for themselves the need, after Arafat’s misrule, for fair elections and a more coherent government. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, in a series of talks last week, also conveyed the message that helping the democratic process to move forward is the best way of encouraging moderation.

That hopeful message was also the outcome of the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that brought to- gether foreign ministers from all Iraq’s neighbours as well as the big powers and others with a stake in the country’s future. What was remarkable was the lack of disagreement. All those who could have disrupted the meeting or given comfort to Iraqi insurgents decided, for one reason or another, to behave more constructively.

The French clearly decided it was time to end the rancour with Washington; Iran, with much at stake among Iraqi Shia leaders, would also like to see elections go ahead on schedule. Iraqi oppositionists, hoping for support from fellow Sunni Arab leaders, found no backing for calls to postpone the vote. If the consensus holds, the chance of a fair election and a diminished insurgency will begin to look reasonable.