In Israel, as opposed to orderly countries, the summer sometimes extends until November. So it is too early to declare that the danger of "the war with Syria this summer" has passed. But there is no doubt that the time frame projected for the war is coming to an end. And when the prospects of one war become "less attractive" and the headlines are boring even themselves, the joy of peace replaces the joy of war.

Note, for example, the preparations Israel is making in advance of the international peace conference U.S. President George W. Bush seeks to convene this fall. What hasn't been said by those in the know? - That Israel is planning territorial swaps, that 100 percent of the territories will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, that there will be a safe passageway between the West Bank and Gaza, that there will be a Palestinian state, and that Saudi Arabia has already announced it will attend the conference. It has even been said that there is some sort of "outline" for solving the refugee problem, and all that remains is to reconcile between the "Peres plan," which talks about a 100-percent withdrawal, and the "Ramon plan," which proposed only 70 percent under a convergence accord.

So will there be peace? Here, for example, is a tiny Israeli condition that could ruin the joy of the summit. The safe passageway between the West Bank and Gaza would operate only after the Palestinian Authority - that is, the Fatah government - becomes the source of authority in the Gaza Strip as well. And how exactly will this happen? Will Hamas voluntarily relinquish control of Gaza? Will a Palestinian national unity government be established, which Israel of course will boycott? There is no answer to this question at the moment. So the safe passageway has no foundation and the two territorial parts of the future Palestinian state will continue to exist as two satellites in space.