EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned on Monday that the Middle East has reached a critical point but that ending the Israeli-Palestinian crisis could provoke movement on many stalled fronts.
"The Middle East is going through a very crucial moment, in several directions," said the European Union's top diplomat as he left Cairo at the end of a six-day tour to assess developments in the region first hand.
"We think that the centre of gravity, in order to solve the problems of the Middle East, has to be given a push on the Palestinian-Israeli track," he told reporters travelling with him.
"Without solving that we will have very little chance," he added.
During his trip, Solana spoke with leaders in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, with most discussions focusing on how to get the Jewish state and the embattled Palestinians talking again.
Achieving that, EU officials say, could be a key that unlocks other parts of a vastly complicated Middle East puzzle stretching from Egypt up to Lebanon, over to Syria and then across to Iran.
Domestic concerns for Israel and the Palestinians are severely hampering progress, however.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government has been badly weakened by its 34-day summer war against Hizbullah in Lebanon, which coincided with a second front in the poverty-hit Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories, meanwhile, is on the verge of collapse under an international blockade sparked by its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace agreements.
The first step would be to overcome that impasse, which has caused severe damage to the Palestinian economy and people, and Solana has said he expects some movement on a new "government of experts" within days.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, the EU's main interlocutor, is expected to try to form a cabinet of professionals acceptable to Hamas -- which swept to power early this year -- as well as to Israel and the international community.
"Of course they will have to have good people in the government and to find the right prime minister" to satisfy Hamas, but also to satisfy the three conditions for lifting the financial blockade, an EU official acknowledged.
Such a move might then set the stage for the release of an Israeli soldier whose capture in June set Gaza alight, and a meeting between Abbas and Olmert could follow if Israel released Hamas officials it has jailed.
Palestinian officials voiced hope Sunday that a prisoner exchange agreement could soon be sealed, amid a flurry of high-level contacts in Cairo as Solana passed through.
Another top priority, EU officials say, is to complete the job of rebuilding Lebanon, where Prime Minister Fuad Siniora is under pressure to accept a national unity government.
Hizbullah has been strengthened by its battle with Israel in July and August, as has pro-Syrian parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who wants fresh cross-party talks on a unity government to drag Lebanon out of its political stalemate.
While in Beirut, Solana threw the EU's weight behind Siniora.
"You are going to have the support of the European Union in the times ahead of us," he said, but acknowledged that those times "will not be easy".
More formidable is the task of improving relations between Lebanon and its stronger neighbour Syria, and prying Damascus away from its ally Iran.
"The main strategic challenge is Iran," said an official with close knowledge of the EU's Middle East policy, which has grown in influence as the bloc evolves from providing large sums of aid to boosting security.