After seven bad years - years of terror, a diplomatic freeze, Hamas' victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections and its takeover of Gaza - empty words about a "diplomatic horizon" and barren meetings between representatives of the parties are giving way to genuine diplomatic processes and practical plans for solving the conflict.

At the end of the first meeting between an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian leader ever held in the West Bank, Ehud Olmert announced that he and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were determined to quickly craft a "framework" that would pave the way for establishing a Palestinian state. As Haaretz reported yesterday, Olmert, basing himself on a proposal by President Shimon Peres, welcomed the key principle of the Arab peace initiative, which guarantees that negotiations over the borders of the Palestinian state will be based on the June 4, 1967, lines.

The Peres document proposes that Israel and the Palestinians draft a document of principles, with an upfront guarantee that Israel will provide the Palestinian state with territory equal to 100 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Stirp. A prior agreement on this central issue, along with a binding timetable, would enable negotiations to be held on the details of the agreement. Such a discussion would focus, among other issues, on what compensation the Palestinians would receive for the designated settlement blocs, which must not interfere with the West Bank's territorial contiguity. The Peres outline also proposes practical and balanced solutions for the issues of Jerusalem and the refugees' return to places other than Israel's sovereign territory.