Short-term success in Mid-East for Blair

Mr Blair's words were watched very closely

		By James Reynolds BBC Middle East correspondent

The Middle East has broken many careers. It has made very few. Now it is Tony Blair's turn to see how he fares.

He set himself a difficult task during his day in Jerusalem and Gaza: meet two sides who hate each other and be a friend to both.

In the short term he has succeeded.

Both Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat called Tony Blair a friend.

Both looked relaxed standing next to the British prime minister.

But the frost will be saved for the tough talk, which will come later.

This visit, in Mr Blair's own words, was meant to prepare the ground for a revival of the peace process.

A limited ambition - but then again, limited ambition is all that is left after a year of sustained violence here.

The Sharon visit

First of all Mr Blair presented his limited ambition to Mr Sharon.

Mr Sharon's plans for negotiations injected momentum into Mr Blair's visit

During their news conference, the two men joked about football.

One joke in this region is worth a dozen jokes elsewhere.

Mr Blair talked of the need for Israeli security and the need for a Palestinian state - the two fixed points of the whole process, he said.

And then a surprise.

Some people had been expecting Mr Blair to come up with a plan.

But they were looking at the wrong person.

It was, as it turned out, Mr Sharon who came up with something new.

He announced he was forming a team to negotiate with the Palestinians - a team he would lead in person.

He did not give a timetable, but the announcement is important.

It has meant that Mr Blair's visit will not be dominated entirely by news of violence and deadlock.

Diplomacy gets a look-in.

The Arafat visit

In Gaza, Mr Blair started by giving a similar message.

Mr Blair spoke of a 'gulf of misunderstanding' between Muslims and the West

Once more he talked of the two fixed points of the process, using almost the same words he had used in Jerusalem and also in Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Every word is watched closely here, perhaps more closely here than in any other place in the world.

By sticking to a script it is easier to stay out of trouble.

But then, in his final words in Gaza, in front of the Palestinians and the cameras, the prime minister talked from a more impassioned script.

He spoke of the need for an end to bloodshed, and of a gulf of misunderstanding between the Arab world and the West.

Strong words spoken with vigour and left till the end.

This was the Blair opening. Now the Middle East waits for his follow-up.