Mediterranean Bridge Building

It may be a canny approach, but it's also a risky one. "Sarkozy in Israel acted as an intermediary who could be heard by both sides, and he is more listened to in Israel than his predecessors," says Gilles Kepel, a Middle East scholar at Sciences Po in Paris and the author of "The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West." "But the great difficulty is to not lose his capital in Arab countries. It is a balancing act that is very complex. It is a gamble."

Indeed, Chirac also tried hard to improve diplomacy with Syria before concluding it would lead nowhere. But Sarkozy is aiming higher and at multiple targets, and he is also armed with firmer support from Israel. Moreover, he has timing on his side. Though he is unpopular at home, due largely to economic concerns, he is benefiting from the United States' low standing in the Middle East, where Washington's credibility has been damaged by the war in Iraq and President Bush's lame-duck status. Sarkozy is trying to step into that breach. "Europe can't fill the U.S.'s space in the region, but no one has a monopoly of action," says Pascale Boniface, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Paris. "In our own way, we must weigh in."

The risk, of course, is that Sarkozy will fail to follow up on last week's meeting, leaving the impression that it was just another photo op and a lost opportunity. But if he manages to make even incremental progress, he may find himself lauded by all sides—a nimble trick indeed.

© 2008