Arab support for the US-led coalition that expelled Iraq from Kuwait in 1991 with UN blessing was based on an understanding that the international community in general and the United States in particular would turn to comprehensive peace-making on the Arab-Israeli front.
This task was indeed embraced, beginning with the Madrid conference of November 1991. It was convened on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions, and under the joint patronage of Washington and Moscow, with the Europeans in attendance.
The following eighteen months saw tortuous negotiations conducted simultaneously between Israel, its Arab neighbours and the Palestinians. Meanwhile, multilateral talks allowed broad regional and international involvement.
