IN an increasingly unstable world, the need to find compromise in the Middle East is at the top of the international agenda.

And the death of Yasser Arafat - an admirable defender of his people to some, a terrorist to others - is an opportunity to breathe new life into the campaign for peace.

The choice for the Palestinians now is between negotiation for the best achievable deal - or fighting on for an impossible dream.

Of course, we hope that moderation is chosen as the way forward; that Arafat's passing symbolises a new beginning; and that the notion of a two-state solution, which he led his people to accept, can somehow be turned into solid agreement.

But as Arafat's body was flown back to the Middle East from Paris last night, the early signs were depressingly familiar.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead a 22-year-old Palestinian as they opened fire on a group of stone-throwing protestors, angered at the loss of their leader.

Meanwhile, soldiers killed three more Palestinians in Gaza after militants attacked a Jewish settlement.

It is the beginning of 40 days of official mourning, and the international community has no alternative but to cling to the hope that new leadership will give the road map to peace a clearer direction.

In all honesty, it is a distant hope, because it is more likely that divisions will remain, and very possible that they will deepen.