OMEGA MEN:

Peace Talks Back from the Dead: Peace in the Middle East has been but a faint glimmer on the horizon since the 2000 Camp David talks failed. But now, both the Israelis and Palestinians say they are once again committed to reaching an agreement. But it might depend on their neighbors. (Ralf Beste, Christoph Schult and Bernhard Zand, 12/02/07, Der Spiegel)

[C]ritics were too quick to read Annapolis' epitaph. In fact, last week the Middle East peace process woke up from a seven-year coma, a torpor into which it had descended after the failure of the Camp David talks way back in 2000. The patient, as it turned out, was weak but still alive. The question now is whether it will be a full recovery.

The first signs of life are at least encouraging. The Israeli and Palestinian officials in Annapolis even managed, at the last minute, to come up with a joint statement. They vowed to launch bilateral negotiations immediately to address "all issues in dispute, without exception," the goal being an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of next year. The reality that began in 1967 after the Six-Day War, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert predicted, will "change dramatically." Even the chronically sullen Palestinian President Abbas characterized the conference as a turning point that would mark the beginning of a "post-Annapolis era." These are big words, but good intentions alone will not be sufficient.

The peace process will not get back on its feet without the financial and political support of the international community. A Paris donor conference is planned for mid-December, at which the Europeans, in particular, are expected to commit to generous injections of financial support for the Palestinian economy. There has also been progress on the issue of security. The United States is paying to train police units for Abbas's Fatah Party to help them fight Hamas and other extremists. The Europeans are contributing to the training program, while Israel has agreed to allow weapons and armored vehicles to be brought into the West Bank.

It is a treatment with many possible side effects. Abbas stands to lose his support among the Palestinian people unless he can show some evidence of success soon. On the other side of the equation, Olmert, by making the necessary concessions, risks splitting his coalition government.