An unprecedented three sets of summit talks in three days between Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, have dramatically revived the Middle East peace process, with the two sides committing themselves to reaching a permanent peace deal this year.
Mr Barak and Mr Arafat held talks in Israel on Tuesday and in the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday, and today travel to Egypt for a third session to be hosted by President Hosni Mubarak, having resolved the crisis that had stalled their negotiations for the past month.
The two men have agreed to an accelerated timetable of peacemaking, having missed a series of earlier deadlines, in what is clearly a joint effort to make up for lost time and to thwart efforts by Islamic extremists to derail the entire peace process.
"We are determined that the year 2000 will be the year that we resolve our 100-year dispute with the Palestinians," Mr Ephraim Sneh, Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, declared last night.
Mr Dennis Ross, the American special Middle East peace envoy whose arrival here earlier this week has been the catalyst for the new effort, announced after the meeting in Ramallah yesterday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would travel to Washington next week for the serious business of negotiating a "framework" for a full peace treaty.
It is understood that Mr Barak and Mr Arafat have agreed that this framework deal must be completed by May. Before then, perhaps even in the next few days, Israel will hand over another 6.1 per cent of the West Bank to Palestinian control. Once the framework agreement is reached - setting out the key principles for a permanent peace deal - Israel is to relinquish one more chunk of occupied land by the end of June. From there, the two sides are to work at full speed to try and reach the permanent treaty by September 13th.
Despite the new positive atmosphere, the September target date still seems wildly optimistic. The two sides are far apart on core issues such as the permanent status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the fate of almost 200,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank.