That is being done on a daily basis for the first time since the bombings.”Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO, needs to see the state of siege of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied territories lifted. But he also wants to resume the relationship he had with the Israeli government before the first bombs in the present campaign exploded on 25 February. “Labour are our partners in peace,” said an official of Fatah, Mr Arafat’s political movement. The danger for him is that he will be seen by other Palestinians as a pawn of Israel and the US who can deliver nothing for his people.Mr Peres went out of his way to denounce Iran, saying it had spearheaded attacks. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who hosted the meeting, emphasised preserving the peace accords, saying: “The core of the Middle East problem is the Palestinians.” Egypt is nervous of appearing to be at the beck and call of Washington and Tel Aviv.Israel and the US wanted the conference to focus primarily on combating terrorism. There were promises of co-operation between security forces and a working group is to meet in 30 days to discuss the implementation of practical measures – such as the exchange of information between intelligence services.

In practical terms the conference will help Shimon Peres, the Israeli Prime Minister, to survive politically and may ease the state of siege imposed by Israel on the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.But deep differences over the aims of the conference were evident as soon as it started. PATRICK COCKBURN

Sharm el-Sheikh
Leaders of 29 countries met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday in an effort to prevent the peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians unravelling and to discuss measures against suicide bombers and their supporters.President Clinton said: “From all over the world we have come to Sinai to deliver one message: peace will prevail.” Mr Clinton told a news conference after the four-hour meeting that this “amazing group of people” had provided “a historic showing of the strength of peace in the Middle East today”.The meeting “sent a message that Israel is not alone”, saidPresident Clinton. Herr Kohl was still there, Sir John said, but Senor Gonzalez was not.And nor, by the time he had finished, were most of the cult members. They had just had a true vision of Purgatory, and frankly, it hadn’t been the fun that they’d expected.. Where Mr McKinlay shared uninteresting new information with the House, Sir John reminded it of boring things it already knew M Mitterrand had gone, he revealed And M Chirac had taken over.

Their by now flagging enthusiasm was further diminished by a speech of studied tedium and pomposity delivered by former Paymaster General, Sir John Cope. Which was theologically unsound, because Rifkind was about the IGC, the IGC was about Maastricht, Maastricht was about monetary union, therefore the IGC was about monetary union, which meant that … and so on.Unfortunately for the elect, a member of the doggedly damned had infiltrated their convocation, in the shape of Andrew McKinlay, Labour member for Thurrock. A former trade-union official, who cannot see a soap-box without queuing up for a turn on it, he was determined to have his say.To describe his speech as discursive would be to suggest a structure and discipline that were simply not present.

It was in the best tradition of trade-union branch meetings, where the local autodidact, fresh from reading encyclopedias at the library, decides to share his newly gleaned wisdom with his despairing comrades All of it. Whatever the subject.To be fair, Mr McKinlay had a theme – Europe – but that was the extent of his coherence. Joined and abutted with phrases like “it needs to be made quite clear”; “what I want to say” and “if I might say so”, his contribution took us from Mrs Thatcher in Missouri (quoting Churchill’s 1946 speech), praised Britain’s “lovely Parliament”, covered air-traffic control, paused at the portfolios of EU Commissioners, discussed electoral systems and concluded, triumphantly, on the question of capping the number of languages that might be simultaneously translated in the European Parliament.Then, with a satisfied smilesuggesting that – whatever the reaction of other MPs – he had just received an internal standing ovation, he resumed his seat.Alas for the sects, worse was to come. The Book of Rifkind, he argued, had failed to mention the real scourges – such as monetary union (a perverted joining together of currencies). Anti-EU flagellants, chiliasts and monks of various hues agreed. The Gormanites nodded vigorously: the ascetic, tonsured The Shepherd Is My Lord group smiled wanly. John Wilkinson looked on with priestly, tolerant sadness.Only Tony Marlow, last descendant of the merger between the Knights of the Teutonic Order and the Ranters – clad in the navy-blue shirt and buckled shoes of his calling – stood to interrupt Mr Gill.