The United Nations was due to play host this week to a major high-level conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, to try to breathe life into the "two-state solution" - the international community's long held plan for Israel and Palestine to live side by side, in sovereign countries.
But Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military sites in the early hours of Friday morning put paid to the idea - at least for now.
By later that morning, Saudi Arabia was looking for a postponement - not least because airspace closures in the Middle East would make travel to the United States difficult, if not impossible.
And then by the evening, France's President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that it was off.
But, he said, he would be working closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to fix another date.
A General Assembly ceasefire resolution, which passed overwhelmingly on Thursday, also stipulated that the event must take place within the month of June 2025.
But it was not lost on diplomats that there was only half of the month left.
As the re-scheduling gets worked out, a big question still remains: what can this get-together really achieve, given the situation on the ground?
After 20-months of bombing, sparked by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023, the Palestinian territory of Gaza lies in ruins.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, illegal settlements with the blessing of the Netanyahu government, have proliferated.
More than half a million Israeli settlers now live on lands deemed by most of the world to be Palestinian.
Diplomatic sources conceded that these bare facts on the ground were a problem, but said that opening the dialogue was still important.
Then there is the question of who possesses the political clout, let alone the political will, to negotiate the two-state solution?
The Palestinian Authority, the body pegged to head up the proposed Palestinian state, is considered by many observers to be too weak and corrupt, while Hamas - designated a terrorist group by much of the international community - clings onto power in what is left of Gaza.
Seemingly in response to calls from European and other nations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas penned a letter to the conference co-chairs, reportedly committing to a reform agenda and condemning the Hamas attacks of 7 October.
As for Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected the two-state solution outright.
His cabinet ministers openly muse about the wholesale expulsion of Palestinians.
In a key recent development, Israel’s principal backer the United States, where successive administrations always supported the idea, appeared to shift its position.
President Donald Trump said there were other solutions, not just one of two-states.
"Muslim countries have 644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel," US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told the BBC.
"So maybe, if there is such a desire for the Palestinian state, there would be someone who would say, we'd like to host it," he said.
Previously Mr Huckabee called France’s plans to co-host the UN conference "revolting," suggesting that France should consider carving out a piece of the French Riviera for a Palestinian state.
Throughout, Israel remained staunch in its opposition to the UN event.
"We won't be taking part in a conference that doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by Hamas in Gaza, which along with the massacring of 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals on 7 October 2023, was what triggered this conflict to begin with," said Jonathan Harounoff, spokesperson for Israel at the UN.
And then last Tuesday, raising the stakes considerably, the US issued what's called "a démarche" - a diplomatic cable - warning UN member states not to attend the conference on pain of "diplomatic consequences".
The State Department cable did not specify what form those consequences would take.
"We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages," the cable read.
"The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognise a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies," it added.
The measure was described as "extremely undiplomatic diplomacy," by one European observer.
Yet many member states appeared undeterred.
Read more: Two-state solution conference postponed after Iran attack
It is "full-steam ahead," one senior European UN diplomat told RTÉ News on Thursday.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a terse response to Washington’s threats.
This is a conference "organised within the UN framework," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"As far as we're concerned, we're calling for broad participation among UN member states at the highest possible level," the spokesperson said.
"Once again, this is an opportunity to open a dialogue on the implementation of a two-state solution," the spokesperson added.
It was not clear if the US démarche had succeeded in spooking some nations, who would rather not be on the wrong side of Washington while President Trump is in the White House.
If the conference is rescheduled for later this month, all eyes will be on the General Assembly Hall to see who decided to brave it.
Separately, one big and hugely significant question is whether the Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman will put in an appearance.
A co-chair of this conference, Saudi is also a key Gulf ally of the United States.
Mr Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first foreign visit after taking office, just as he did in his first term.
Saudi subsequently pledged a $600 billion (€520 billion) investment in the United States while the US agreed to sell Saudi $142 billion (€123 billion) in "state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services," according to the White House - an arms deal touted as "the largest in history," between them.
The agreements "represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia," the White House said.
It is no secret that Mr Trump is very keen for Saudi Arabia to sign up to the Abraham Accords - his first term foreign policy goal to normalise relations between Israel and Arab States.
But the oil power has set its own conditions - an end to the war in Gaza and a credible path towards the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Rumour in the corridors of the UN has it that the crown prince will only show if France commits to Palestinian recognition
Despite earlier indications that were on the cards, last weekend, France suddenly developed cold feet and walked back the notion of doing so during the conference.
Perhaps the confab's rescheduling buys France time to hammer out their policy.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot reaffirmed France’s commitment to recognition, although he did not say when.
Ireland, Spain and Norway recognised the state of Palestine last year bringing the tally to 147 out of 193 UN member states that do.
No G7 country has.
But momentum is building to take more concrete steps on Israel and Palestine, analysts said.
"If you look what's happened in Europe in the last month or so, many governments have just raised things a little notch in terms of just signalling to Israel that this, you've got to stop this or this is too much," said Max Rodenbeck, Israel/Palestine director at the International Crisis Group.
Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Norway issued sanctions on two of Israel’s far right ministers for "inciting violence against Palestinians".
Sweden then took up the baton, calling on the European Union to follow in their footsteps.
"We have also been pushing for the sanctioning of extremist settlers, but we now take the next step to also push for sanctioning individual extremist ministers, because we need to see things happening on the ground," said Sweden’s Foreign Minister Malmer Stenergard.
Within the United Nations this week, there was a feeling that the mood had shifted, and the time was right to try and revive the world’s commitment to two states.
Whether the momentum will still be there, when the conference finally convenes, is another question.
