Philip Zelikow, senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recently spoke at a conference in Washington about the link between efforts to block the Iranian nuclear program and Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic progress. According to a report by Shmuel Rosner in Haaretz yesterday, the linkage is supposed to preserve the European and Arab coalition the Bush administration is trying to create vis-a-vis Iran and international terrorism. America's friends are demanding that it deepen its involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian track as part of its support or regional policies.

The statements made by Rice's adviser - it is unclear to what extent they reflect the White House's views - are part of Washington and Tehran's public diplomacy to diminish the tensions between the two prior to today's convening of the UN General Assembly. In an interview granted to the Washington Post, U.S. President George Bush called for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear weapons issue. Iran's president told Time magazine, meanwhile, that bombs "have limited use in our time," and that there is no point in confrontation.

The convening of the General Assembly, the end of the war in Lebanon, and the expiration of the ultimatum set by the Security Council for Iran to cease its uranium enrichment program are reviving diplomacy in the Middle East, and once more reminds us of the relationship among local problems in the region. This was the case following the two wars between the U.S. and Iraq, in 1991 and in 2003, which opened the diplomatic process between Israel and its neighbors - even though the fighting had taken place hundreds of kilometers away from Israel and for entirely different reasons.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented the Lebanon War as a confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah's patrons, Iran and Syria, and not as a battle against a local Lebanese organization. The Arab League's peace initiative with Israel in return for a pullout from all of the territories and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem is being brought before the United Nations for deliberations parallel to ongoing discussions regarding Iran.

In the meantime, in Israel the reaction is one of apathy, and there is general disregard for the diplomatic developments. For now, Israel's focus is on the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and in symbolically extending a hand to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to meet Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in New York last night. Olmert has promised to meet Abbas in the near future "with no preconditions." These gestures are important in and of themselves, even if they are late in coming. However, these highly publicized meetings between the two leaders are not enough. It is necessary for them also to have substance beyond the repetitive declarations of commitment to the road map, which is stuck.

Instead of being wary of the ongoing diplomatic activity and discussion of preparations for the next war, it would be better for Israel to take the initiative. The government both requires and has an opportunity for a new agenda. Israel's willingness to revive the diplomatic process will be a positive signal to the countries in the region, contribute to diminishing tensions, and bolster the call for the international community to rally against Iran's nuclear program.