What a difference five years in the Middle East can make.

When the then Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia first floated his Middle East peace initiative, committing the Arabs to a land-for-peace deal with Israel, the offer had barely been made when it was rejected.

Back then Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, was struggling to contain a deadly spate of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants against Israeli civilians and finalising plans for a military incursion into the West Bank. Peace talks were the last thing on his mind.

Fast forward to 2007 and Ehud Olmert, Mr Sharon’s successor, has greeted the exact same offer made at this week’s Arab League Summit in Riyadh as a “revolutionary change” in the way Israel is viewed by the Arab world.

His enthusiastic response is easier to understand if you consider the political changes in the region.

First, Israel and the Arabs have been brought closer together by the mutual distrust of Iran, now regarded as the chief sponsor of militant forces operating in Iraq, Lebanon and among the Palestinians. They recognise that in the absence of any momentum in the Middle East peace process, hardline rejectionist forces will fill the vacuum.

Also, Mr Olmert heads a weak government, plagued by scandals, that could be brought down any moment by an official inquiry into last year’s disastrous war in Lebanon. Any movement in the peace process could only benefit his standing at home.

Key elements of King Abdullah’s initiative, which calls for a complete return of all lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War in return for normalisation of relations with the 22 members of the Arab League, are unacceptable to Israel. In particular, the Israelis reject any plan that would entail relinquishing Arab East Jerusalem to become the capital of a Palestinian state or dismantling all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, now home to tens of thousands of Israelis. They also reject outright any notion that the millions of Palestinian refugees, languishing in refugee camps across the Middle East, could return to their homeland in what is modern day Israel.

But at this stage the Israelis are clearly hoping not to become bogged down in the detail, but instead would like the seize the opportunity to open dialogue with traditional Arab foes.

The Quartet on the Middle East - comprising America, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - are planning to hold a following meeting in Egypt at the end of April, which Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also expected to attend. There is the possibility that the Israeli and Palestinians would also be invited, opening the way for the first serious Arab-Israeli dialogue in years.

With no other prospects for any meaningful peace efforts on the horizon, the Arab initiative is the only show in town.

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