1 The first summit to bring together Israel and its Arab peace partners offered something for everyone. But critical decisions for a lasting peace were put off for another day.
2 Israel got a declaration on terrorism for Israel, Egypt a nod toward its goal of a nuclear-free Middle East, and the Palestinians a pledge to speed up negotiations on their future.
3 But ways to curb attacks on Israelis by Islamic militants, the most serious threat to peace, weren't even discussed at Thursday's summit.
4 'Such meetings cannot discuss specific ways and means, but to reaffirm our stand against all kinds of violence that would undermine the peace process,' Egypt's foreign minister, Amr Moussa, said after the five-hour session.
5 It was a polite way of saying nothing concrete was done.
6 In the end, the summit may well have been more symbolic than practical, marking Israel's ascent as a partner in regional politics.
7 Israel has long resisted multilateral meetings with its Arab neighbors. But televised images of the summit -- of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin casually sitting next to Jordan's King Hussein, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak -- provided dramatic proof of the region's fast-changing landscape.
8 The images were even broadcast on Syrian television, and Al-Hayat, the London-based Arabic daily distributed throughout the Middle East, displayed a photograph of the four leaders on its front page.
9 Rabin himself was aware of the symbolism. While praising a summit statement condemning terrorism, he said the meeting as a 'peace bloc' was more important than the formal declarations.
10 Arafat secured a pledge to speed up the negotiations on Palestinian autonomy, considered crucial if he is to salvage his authority in the Gaza Strip and West Bank city of Jericho.
11 The expected fruits of the 1993 Israel-PLO peace accord -- jobs and independence -- have not come about, and Arafat has been unable or unwilling to crack down on Islamic extremists who use terrorism to undermine the accord even more. Their latest blow was a Jan. 22 suicide bombing that killed 21 Israelis.
12 Israel and the PLO will resume talks next week in Cairo, and diplomats from Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the PLO will gather in Washington on Feb. 12 to discuss everything from education to a regional nuclear-free zone.
13 But Arafat's key demands at the summit -- an end to the closure clamped on the West Bank and Gaza last week and a halt to expanding Jewish settlements -- were hardly addressed, and only then peripherally.
14 However, the Israeli Cabinet will consider this weekend a recommendation by its security forces to ease the closure, which cuts off thousands of Palestinians from their jobs in Israel.
15 As expected, Arafat's opponents were quick to condemn the summit.
16 Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the Jan. 22 bombing, said in Al-Hayat that the meeting was meant to shore up Rabin's sagging popularity, 'which is stumbling under the strikes of the crusaders.'
17 The four summit leaders agreed to back Egypt's proposal for a 'mutually verifiable Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical and biological.'
18 Egyptian officials have been adamant that if Israel refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Egypt will not renew its commitment when the treaty is renegotiated in April. Israel has stayed mum about its nuclear capability, but is believed to possess about 200 warheads.
19 Egypt's call has drawn support from Libya, Syria and Kuwait. But it has put Egypt at a crossroads with its American patrons, who have lobbied hard to line up support for the treaty's renewal.
20 The statement and the promise of future talks may offer Egypt a way to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty while pointing to Israel's commitment to work for a nuclear-free region.
21 Of the four leaders, Hussein had the least to gain and the least to lose.
22 Proceeding smoothly with its peace with Israel and facing a relatively tame opposition, Jordan gains credibility as a regional broker. It needs little more.
23 EDITOR'S NOTE: Anthony Shadid is an Associated Press newsman based in Cairo.

" Such meetings cannot discuss specific ways and means , but to reaffirm our stand against all kinds of violence that would undermine the peace process , " Egypt ' s foreign minister , Amr Moussa , said after the five - hour session .
cannot
Why can they not discuss specific ways or means?