TEL AVIV: Expect ceremony and symbolism when Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet next week for a summit to turn back the clock on over four years of bloodshed.
But while both sides will benefit from short term measures to prolong a lull in violence, progress towards a final deal to end decades of conflict and give the Palestinians a viable state will take far longer - if it happens.
Neither side looks ready to shift on fundamental issues that blocked talks in 2000, like whether Palestinians could have East Jerusalem for their capital and whether Palestinian refugees might have a "right of return" to homes now in Israel.
"We might see a false pregnancy," said Palestinian commentator Ali Jarbawi. "At the beginning you think things are moving ahead - for a few months, for a year - but the stumbling block comes when you get to the substantive issues."
There is no doubt the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marks a huge step, made possible after the death of iconic ex-guerrilla Yasser Arafat in November.
Even before the summit, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Israel and the West Bank in a show of new engagement by the power that matters to the stalled "roadmap" for a Palestinian state and a secure Israel.
Both sides say they hope there will be a formal declaration at the summit of a halt to violence, following Abbas's success in winning a de facto truce from factions waging a 4-year-old uprising.
To show goodwill, Israel agreed on Thursday to free 900 Palestinian prisoners and pull back troops from some West Bank cities they had re-entered since 2000, cabinet sources said.
Israel is expected to ease military measures further in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, to give Palestinians more freedom and help them revive an economy destroyed by the fighting.
Abbas will need to do more to ensure that the militants toe the line, perhaps by collecting weapons. Western donors are then likely to hike badly needed aid to the Palestinians. "This time both sides want change," wrote Roni Shaked, a columnist in Israel's most-read Yedioth Ahronth daily. "They realise that the alternative is continuing the war."
FRAGILE CALM: An early sticking point could be the armed factions. Groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have more demands from Israel before they will agree to a formal cease fire, despite pressure from Abbas and Egyptian mediators.
The killing of a Gaza schoolgirl this week - by whom is still unclear - and the militant mortar fire in response was an obvious indication of how quickly things could fall apart.
If the violence can be brought to a lasting halt, the next step would be Israel's planned pullout of settlers from the Gaza Strip and a chunk of the West Bank by the end of the year.
While Sharon still has a lot of domestic political juggling to ensure the withdrawal happens, he could be helped by a big drop-off in attacks and if the Palestinians are ready to coordinate to ensure it goes smoothly.
After that, things start to look more problematic. Palestinians are wary of what may follow a "disengagement plan" that was originally meant as a unilateral separation move sealing Israel's hold on key parts of the West Bank - even if Sharon is now ready to call it a move towards the "roadmap".
They suspect Sharon has no intention of giving them the state they want in all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, all captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Sharon has not said what might follow "disengagement", but emphasizes that Israel will keep hold of the biggest West Bank settlement blocks, with Washington's blessing, come what may.
If the Gaza pullout itself involves bloody confrontations between Israelis, as some settlers predict, it could make it harder for any Israeli government to make further withdrawals from land seen by some Jews as a Divine gift.
There is also no sign of flexibility from either side on the fundamental issues - the same as those behind the failure of negotiations in 2000 that led to the eruption of the Intifada.
Few Palestinians think Abbas could give up the demands to East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital or for a "right of return" to homes in what is now Israel for millions of refugees and their descendants.
Both those stands would be deal-breakers for Israel, which appears much keener on a long "interim accord" and is unlikely to be pushed into starting negotiations for a final peace deal unless its US ally really changes its stance.
"It is clear that negotiating on a final accord now would be a recipe for disaster," Sharon adviser Zalman Shoval said. "There will be no final accord in our generation, in my opinion." -Reuters
