Israel's leaders have been in talks with Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas -- negotiating a "declaration of principles" for the creation of a Palestinian state. Their goal is to present the declaration at the Middle East peace conference to be held in Washington in November. Read about the declaration here from the Guardian.

The declaration will include a political outline of the state -- and perhaps even a geographical outline, according to Shimon Peres, Israel's president. Though details of the negotiations haven't been released, rumors are that Peres has offered the Palestinians all the disputed territory except for five percent of the West Bank, which Israel would swap for an equal amount of land inside Israel's borders. Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has denied that this offer has been made, and Peres won't confirm or deny it.

But Peres says he sees a "real opportunity" for peace, strengthened by a $100 million investment Japan has offered to make into a proposed Israeli/Palestinian industrial complex in the West Bank city of Jericho. Read about it here. The complex -- which would include factories, canneries, a commercial bridge and an airport on Jordon's side of the border -- is designed to boost the Palestinian economy.

Peres is optimistic that such financial incentives may be the key to peace in the region. In the Guardian article, he said, "The whole philosophy is that I believe we hang too much on strategy and too much on diplomacy and we ignored almost completely the economic potential that can lead to peace."

So, could this be the real deal? Could a declaration be presented in November that will actually lead to peace in the region? We've seen many failed attempts before. Many people who haven't been following the news reported on FP may wonder why we think this time could be any different.

But if the Bible's foretold "covenant with many" has already been made through the 1995 Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace and strengthened through the seven-year European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument that went into effect Jan. 1, 2007, then we know that we've entered Daniel's 70th week -- and a time of peace will soon dawn over Israel. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read an overview of the prophetically significant events here.)

Staying tuned!