Mr Arafat made a show of donating blood

Pictures of these celebrations were broadcast round the world - giving the impression the entire Palestinian people was jubilant. These pictures did great damage to the Palestinian cause internationally.

Yasser Arafat and his officials were put on the backfoot. They made sure pictures of further celebrations were not seen.

They began an intense campaign to show that the Palestinian people condemned the attacks.

A campaign which involved Mr Arafat giving blood for the victims of the attacks against America.

Incursions

At the same time Israel began a series of military incursions into Palestinian controlled areas. These incursions were condemned by the Palestinians. But the world's attention was focused elsewhere.

Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas went largely unnoticed by the outside world

Then, the next step of the new world. In front of foreign ambassadors called to Gaza, Yasser Arafat repeated his intention to observe a ceasefire. He ordered his forces to act with maximum restraint.

His words were not new. But in this conflict, what you say is not as important as when you say it and who has told you to say it.

On this occasion, Mr Arafat was under intense pressure from the international community to fall into line.

With few other options available, he did so. And his international position rose. He was back in the fold.

Prisoner

Now the challenge. Yasser Arafat must make sure his forces observe the ceasefire. He must act against Islamic militant groups - and persuade them not to attack Israel. Leading Palestinians warn that this will be difficult.

"He is like a prisoner in Ramallah or Gaza," says Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian political activist.

"He cannot move army officers from one place to another. Physically he is doing his best."

The question now : will his best be good enough?

If the ceasefire holds, Yasser Arafat will meet Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for talks. And there is more.

Talks are predicated on the ceasefire holding

The Palestinians want Yasser Arafat to be given an Oval Office meeting with President Bush. Such a meeting would do more than anything to restore Mr Arafat's standing in the international community.

If the ceasefire holds, this meeting may happen. If it doesn't, it won't.

These are defining moments for Yasser Arafat. He may remember Shakespeare's words from Julius Caesar:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

This is Yasser Arafat's tide. If the ceasefire holds, his international position will be strengthened. If the Palestinians break the ceasefire, he can expect real questions from the international community - and from the United States in particular.