In Jerusalem, across a simple wooden table bare but for a vase of flowers, Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and Mr Yasser Arafat's deputy, Mr Abu Mazen, yesterday began discussing a "final status" accord, a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
In the West Bank itself, meanwhile, on the very territory under debate in those Jerusalem talks, Jewish settlers were preparing for another night of hilltop-grabbing, encouraged by that same Mr Sharon.
The "final status" talks were formally begun in May 1996, with a single ceremonial meeting, weeks before Labour's Mr Shimon Peres was replaced as Israeli prime minister by Mr Benjamin Netanyahu. Yesterday's second session of those talks appeared to underline a profound shift in the orientation of the Netanyahu government, which is now implementing the peace process shaped by Mr Peres and his assassinated predecessor, Mr Yitzhak Rabin.
But appearances can be a little deceptive. Yes, the Netanyahu government is scheduled to hand over another slice of the West Bank to Mr Arafat today, as part of the new Wye peace deal. And yes, Mr Sharon is making a serious effort to find common ground with Mr Mazen on the tough "final status" issues, which include the rights of Palestinian refugees, the future of the settlements and the fate of Jerusalem.
But because it remains ideologically committed to the West Bank land it is now relinquishing, and because it knows it is indebted to the settlers for bringing it to power, the Netanyahu government's peace moves are reluctant concessions, not the confidence-building measures that Mr Rabin and Mr Peres had envisaged.
So when, late on Tuesday night, the Knesset voted overwhelming approval for the Wye deal, most of the governing coalition either abstained or voted against, and it was the votes of Labour and other moderate politicians that ensured the strong majority. And Mr Sharon, just a few days ago, urged settlers to stake their claims to the hills around their settlements, and to do so fast, before the Wye deal and subsequent accords see those hills yielded to Mr Arafat.
Groups of settlers, on cue, are now nightly evading the Israeli army and striking camp on West Bank hills, pitching tents, singing the night away, before being evicted in the morning. If this sounds futile, it is worth noting that numerous now-flourishing West Bank settlements were established in much the same way, after the army and various governments gave up evicting the settlers.
This present campaign, however, is a race against time. The Wye deal, for all the obstacles and delays, is now clearly going ahead. Palestinian prisoner releases are expected tomorrow, Gaza airport is set to open by the weekend, and the US President is due in Jerusalem next month to oversee the public annulment of the PLO's anti-Israel covenant.