There is now new hope for Israel and Palestine, long locked in a seemingly endless vicious cycle of vengeance, to return to the negotiating table in the coming days after more than a month of deadly deadlock.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday, during his three-day visit to Italy, that he would meet new Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and resume talks with him within the next few days.

"I hope that soon we can resume the dialogue with our neighbours," Sharon said during a meeting with leaders of the Italian Jewish community.

Sharon also said his country was willing to make "painful concessions to reach peace," although he reaffirmed he would not yield on the issue of Israel's sovereignty and security.

This was the first clear statement given by Sharon that Israel is willing to resume high-level talks with Palestine since Qurei was appointed as Prime Minister by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat one month ago, following the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli-Palestinian talks on the US-backed Middle East "roadmap" for peace came to a complete standstill when Abbas stepped down late September.

Abbas, a moderate Palestinian politician whom both the United States and Israel had time for, met Sharon four times but achieved no concrete results.

Abbas's resignation led to the closing of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Both Israel and its largest backer, the United States, have regularly accused Arafat of supporting the string of suicide bombings engineered by Palestinian militants against Israeli civilians and have refused to open negotiations with him.

The line-up of Qurei's cabinet does not satisfy Israel's long-held demand that it should take more control of Palestinian security forces away from Arafat, but Sharon's comments are regarded as a goodwill gesture by the new Palestinian Government.

When Qurei's new cabinet was near completion, Israel stopped large-scale targeted military actions against Palestinian radicals and adopted some concrete measures to ease pressures on Palestinians.

The measures are thought to have facilitated the smooth birth of the new Palestinian Government.

Following Qurei's new cabinet getting past a confidence vote by the Palestinian Parliament, Israel said it would see the new government as a co-operative partner if it shows a real determination to destroy domestic terrorist organizations.

Sharon's latest position was also an active response to Qurei's earlier statement that his government was willing to hold talks with Sharon.

It is not strange that Israel and Palestine should make an attempt to move beyond their current deadlock.

Several years of bloody conflicts have made not only Palestine but also Israel keenly aware that military violence is not an effective way to bring them out of their current predicament.

Palestinian radicals can organize suicide bombings against Israel, but they have no power to bring their country and people the statehood they so dearly long for. On the contrary, the bombings have only provoked a more severe wave of military attacks from their enemy.

Similarly, the Israeli army, with its absolute military superiority over the Palestinians, can target and remove Palestinian militants or build blockades across its enemy's territory, but it cannot get rid of the attacks on vengeance and bring its country peace and security.

Talks are coming, but what they can achieve remains to be seen.

With Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis still a threat, their final reconciliation cannot help but be shrouded in doubt at this point.

Whether Israel can stop its military aggression and whether Qurei's government can succeed in uniting Palestinian factions and realizing a long-standing truce with Israel is something the rest of the world can only wait and hope for, but at least the situation seems brighter than it was just a week or two ago.

(China Daily November 19, 2003)