MIDDLE EAST: As dusk descended in Sharm El-Sheikh last night, Israeli and Palestinian flags were being hoisted alongside each other on poles lining the Red Sea resort's main thoroughfare, aptly named Peace Road.
It is along this two-lane thoroughfare that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian President, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, will travel today to attend a summit which it is widely hoped will breathe life back into the moribund internationally-backed "road map" for peace.
The journey to this high-level gathering co-hosted by Jordan and Egypt has been a painful one, with some 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis killed in more than four years of relentless bloodshed.
Yet today both sides will announce a mutual cessation of hostilities, a significant breakthrough which capitalises on a momentum for peace that has gathered apace since the election of Mr Abbas as the president of the Palestinian Authority last month.
In the short time since Mr Abbas succeeded the late Mr Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, both sides have made more concessions to each other than they had in the entire course of the current intifida or uprising which broke out in September 2000.
The Israelis had for several years refused to deal with Mr Arafat, who they accused of being an impediment to peace, and the veteran leader was undermined further by US antipathy to him.
In recent days, Israel announced plans to free 900 Palestinian prisoners, withdraw its forces from five Palestinian cities and consider amnesty terms for fugitives.
Militant factions in the West Bank and Gaza, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have largely adhered to a tentative truce brokered by Mr Abbas a fortnight ago, and the Palestinian leader has also deployed Palestinian security forces to halt militant violence. "This is the start of a new era," said Dr Nabil Kokali from the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion. "The Palestinians and the Israelis, after the killing and shooting, recognise that the best way is to become good partners working together to solve problems."
Dr Kokali said Mr Abbas was a very serious leader. "Israel should recognise that, and they should help Abbas and help the Palestinians to feel that this progresses peace and that they are gaining something from it."
When the fanfare of today's event dies down, both sides will be left with hard negotiations on key issues obstructing any future peace deal, such as the final borders of a future Palestinian state set up alongside a secure Israel, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war which saw the creation of the Jewish state.
"We don't want a photo opportunity. We don't want a headline in a newspaper and a picture of the two leaders and things not happening on the ground because that will create a dissonance," said an Israeli spokesman. "Hopefully the outcome of the summit will translate into tangible benefits for both sides."
Both sides will recall the surge of optimism that greeted a similarly high-profile summit held in June 2003 in the nearby Jordanian city port of Aqaba, to formally inaugurate the "road map" peace plan. President George Bush attended that event, along with Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas, who was then the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Abbas was lauded by Mr Bush as a peacemaker, but within two months the promised peace had broken down amid a fierce new round of recrimination and bloodshed.
Key differences between then and now include the US's show of confidence in the leadership of Mr Abbas as opposed to his predecessor, as well as the desire of Mr Bush to counter Arab anger over the US-led war in Iraq with success in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.
It is significant that the US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleezza Rice, has named Gen William Ward as security co-ordinator to monitor compliance with security requirements, including reform of the Palestinian security forces.
This initiative is important because security issues will be the key to initial progress in efforts towards negotiated peace.
However, the US will have to work hard to rehabilitate its administration's reputation among Palestinians, who have viewed Mr Bush as being too close an ally of Mr Sharon.