The results were far from impressive. "All three of us affirmed our commitment to a two-state solution (and) agreed that a Palestinian state cannot be born of violence and terror," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after the Monday meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Appearing alone at the press conference, she said that both leaders had reiterated their acceptance of previous agreements.

Of course little more was expected. With both leaders severely hampered by domestic political concerns, the fact that the summit took place at all was widely seen as an achievement. And that's just fine with Rice. "I think the real value here was that they sat down here to talk to each other," she said.

The Financial Times Deutschland agrees on the value of dialogue and applauds Rice for bringing Olmert and Abbas to the negotiating table.

"The Middle East needs this impetus because peace won't be possible without the US. But due to the complexity of the situation nobody in the international community knows what the breakthrough might look like. The preconditions for dialogue are that those who join the talks possess the authority to speak, but Palestinian President Abbas's clout is limited.

"All his efforts are focused on preventing civil war in the Palestinian Authority where his Fatah-party is fighting the radical group Hamas. By agreeing to form a coalition government, he managed to reconcile the two temporarily -- but the compromise required him to accept Hamas's radical, anti-Israeli program. Hamas holds the key to re-starting the peace process: The group has to recognize Israel."

Hamas could gain much from doing so, writes the conservative daily Die Welt. "The extremist organization has been deluding itself with its non-acceptance of Israel for years. The reality of Israel's existence affects them every day. Hamas functionaries can't step outside Gaza without Israel's permission. And even for those who stay, Israeli authority is a fact of life -- especially when the army conducts searches for rocket launchers or kidnapped soldiers.

"The Palestinian people brought Hamas to power a year ago but if it doesn't improve their living conditions, the group may not survive the next elections. Maybe this is why Hamas made a deal with Abbas -- at least it said that it would 'respect' the accord with Israel.

"That Israel isn't willing to accept this tentative step shows its own insecurity. Israel doesn't need Hamas's recognition (for now), but it could move forward if it was more generous with the Abbas-Haniya government. Olmert, too, should not delude himself: He's unable to destroy Hamas .... If he swallows the bitter pill of ignoring the recognition issue for now and instead builds up a lasting relationship with Abbas, he could achieve an end to the terror attacks and kidnappings. That would be the best for his people."

The US will not be able to exert enough pressure on Hamas alone, writes the center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung. "What's necessary is pressure from other Arab countries."

"For the Palestinians, there's no hope for a state as long as they don't recognize the right of Israelis to lead a peaceful existence within their own borders. A vicious circle exists in the region. After all it was Saudi-Arabia -- a Sunni power and close US-ally -- which pushed Hamas and Abbas to compromise without fulfilling any of the preconditions for peace with Israel. The Saudis, in turn, did so because they were afraid of the Shiites and worried about Iran."

The paper also considers US negotiations with Iran a necessary precondition for any sort of peace in the region. "Without Tehran, Washington won't be able to achieve anything -- neither in Baghdad nor Jerusalem."