One of the senior Palestinian Authority officials at the summit yesterday sounded upbeat. "The Americans did not raise a white flag and the political horizon is still there. Olmert may reject the unity government but does not reject negotiations with the PLO chairman, Mahmoud Abbas," the senior official told Haaretz.

However, it's hard to tell on what concrete facts the Palestinian official is basing his assessment. Several hours after the meeting, Al-Ayam, a Palestinian daily, published an interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she said that there is no certainty that a Palestinian state would emerge during the tenure of President George W. Bush.

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For many in the Palestinian camp this statement was regarded as a slap in the face for Abbas, and raised much concern about the future of negotiations. This was proof to them that the American administration was giving up on the two-state vision and on efforts to reach a final status agreement.

The summit also appeared to have been forced. On the eve of the summit, Rice tried to downplay expectations. Rice promised to return and that the American efforts to renew the negotiations would continue, but for most in the Palestinian leadership this was merely keeping up appearances. In their view, the Americans were going through the motions to appease the Arab world to receive support in Iraq, and to appease the European Union so that the Quartet's unity would continue.