HAVING shuttled across the region six times in the past five months, John Kerry, America’s secretary of state (pictured above scratching his head), has finally managed to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to negotiate an end to their conflict for the first time in three years. Both parties claim the other side buckled. The Palestinians say the Americans have agreed that talks will be based on the borders that existed before Israel’s capture of Gaza and the West Bank in 1967. They also say they have secured an Israeli commitment to restrain settlement construction, at least beyond East Jerusalem and the settlement blocs near 1967 lines. Israel notes that its prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has made no public commitment on either point. In his first comments on the resumption of talks, he said the Palestinians would “need to make concessions that will allow us to maintain our security and uphold our vital national interests”. Those vital interests, say some of his supporters, include religious sites deep inside the West Bank, like Hebron.

Fear of isolation appears to have prompted both sides to soften their approach. The EU’s decision to stop funding and co-operating with Israeli institutions operating in territories beyond 1967 lines seems to have unnerved Mr Netanyahu. He may also fear that without negotiations, Mr Abbas could accelerate moves at the UN in September to consolidate international recognition of Palestine as a state. Mr Abbas, meanwhile, worries about Western threats to reduce funding for his aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, as behind-the-scenes diplomatic pressure, and public statements from the Swedes, for instance, warn of donor fatigue for a state-building project that appears stuck, two decades after it was first launched.

Announcing the talks in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Mr Kerry said that the agreement was “still in the process of being formalised”, suggesting that these are merely preliminary talks about talks. The meeting will be between the negotiators who have spent months finessing the latest diplomatic choreography: Saeb Erekat, Mr Abbas’ chief negotiator, and Tzipi Livni, Israel’s justice minister. Given Mr Kerry’s frenetic focus on Israel and Palestine at a time when other more burning regional issues might have topped his agenda, a token reward for his efforts was perhaps the least the parties could offer. America’s battered credibility in the region has been spared another blow, at least for now.

News of a resumption of talks triggered a torrent of familiar criticism from the parties’ domestic rivals. Israeli settler lobbyists noted that Mr Netanyahu’s coalition depends on their support, and vowed to prevent Mr Netanyahu from such “unJewish” measures as negotiating their homes away. Palestinian factions, including Hamas, the Islamist group which rules Gaza, dismissed the return to talks without an Israeli commitment to definitive terms of reference as “cloning failure”. As in the past, they said, Israel would use the breathing space to boost Jewish settlement-building in the West Bank.

Still, talking about talks could be a good move for all involved. For Mr Abbas, a financial package, which Mr Kerry previously set at $4 billion, will likely have to wait for substantive progress in negotiations; and Western diplomats cast doubt on the prospect of the removal of any major Israeli military checkpoints. But he can still point to Israel’s commitment to release 350 prisoners—in bi-monthly batches for as long as he remains in talks. For Mr Netanyahu, despite the torrent of domestic opposition, as long as Palestinians shake hands with Israelis, he can hope to allay the mounting international pressure on Israel. And America, meanwhile, can feel it is doing some good in the region.