There have been plenty of skeptical assessments of the prospects for success at Annapolis. In fact, the expectations have dropped so low that the Annapolis meeting itself is probably immune to failure. Instead it will be judged later on whether it launches a productive peace process.

There are plenty of obstacles to that happening but there is also a real set of interests in achieving a settlement at this time that go beyond the desire to secure a legacy for U.S. President George W. Bush. The interests involved are those of the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. It is worth taking stock of them.

When U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney toured Arab capitals in 2002 trying to drum up support for the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the refrain he heard in response to his "Iraq, Iraq," was "Palestine, Palestine." Cheney was a little hard of hearing at the time and the neocon foreign policy gurus responded that the road to Jerusalem went through Baghdad.

It has taken a while but the administration seems to have learned that the opposite is the case. The road to cleaning up some of the negative consequences of Iraq runs through Jerusalem. In particular, success in this initiative would improve the abysmal public perception of the U.S. in the region and the dangerous idea that the U.S. is the enemy of Islam.

In Israel, the broad center of Israeli society now accepts that the occupation of the Palestinian territories has been a drain on resources and morale and become unsustainable. The creation of the Kadima party and, in a way, the building of the separation barrier reflects that consensus. The challenge is to find a way to end the occupation that does not increase, but hopefully diminishes, the security threat to Israel.

With Hamas controlling Gaza and acting as the wolf at the door in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has a strong interest in achieving a settlement acceptable to a majority of Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas understands that failure in this regard will undermine his credibility with the Palestinian people. Equally important, Israel and the U.S. understand this too.

Hamas, and beyond it, the specter of Iran is focusing the minds of the Arab states too. Islamist movements like Hamas threaten the hold on power of the regions' authoritarian regimes. Iran's regional aspirations, with or without nuclear weapons, make Saudi Arabia, with a large Shiite minority in its eastern oil-producing region, or Bahrain with a majority Shiite population, extremely nervous. A peace settlement in Palestine would remove one area where Iran can make trouble.

None of this means that the parties will actually find ground on which they can agree. The domestic political pressures are great. And agreement is not the same as implementation. Hamas may exercise a veto through action on any agreement. Nevertheless, if agreement were achieved it would change the context in which implementation and the role of Hamas were addressed by the international community.