Coincidentally, over the past month, there have been early signals of greater interest in a regional political approach. The Bahraini foreign minister recently called for a regional forum that includes Israel to resolve the problems ahead; a former senior Saudi official met with Israelis in the United Kingdom to reiterate the need for a comprehensive peace agreement; and Israeli Labor Party leader Ehud Barak has said that it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region, accompanied by an economic package, since separate negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians may prove fruitless.