ABSTRACT
Many welcomed the May 1999 victory of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in the hope that it would inject a long-awaited boost to the peace process. Indeed, the prevalent view among observers and policy-makers is that the peace process is back on track following the September 1999 Sharm al-Sheikh summit and the January 2000 renewal of the Israeli-Syrian talks, although they continue to regard the Arab-Israeli peace process as fragile, with lack of progress endangering regional stability. In March 2000 the mood was again one of concern. Such a view underestimates, on the one hand, the force of the regional processes that have pushed the Arab states away from the goal of destroying the Jewish state toward attempts at solving differences primarily by diplomatic means. On the other hand, it has unrealistic expectations for further progress in the peace process and belittles the inherent regional constraints on its development.
