While the Mainstream Media are focused on the hot air and rhetoric coming from Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's recent visit with the US Commander in Chief in Texas, efforts at reconciliation are bearing fruit in the ancient Palestinian city of Jericho.

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Mr. Bush lightly tapped Mr. Sharon's wrist for the announced intention of building 350 illegal housing units on the West Bank in order to cut off residents of Arab Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian state. Israeli extremists threatened to attack the al-Aqsa Mosque, third most holy site in all of Islam. Israeli military attacked Palestinian civilians near Hebron with rubber bullets. All of these unfortunate actions have been widely covered in the mainstream media.

Only a single paragraph buried deep within the New York Times heralded the meeting of Palestinian and Israeli mayors in the Palestinian-controlled city of Jericho yesterday. For a fuller account of the meeting, turn to the liberal Jerusalem daily Ha'aretz:

Israeli and Palestinian mayors gather to declare civilian truce

According to the article, 20 Israeli and 12 Palestinian mayors came to the conference, and produced a document declaring an immediate truce among their citizens. "We reject all acts of violence against innocent civilians on both sides and the only way to move forward is to stop the violence and bloodshed, and we call on the two sides to declare a year-long truce," the document said.

Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, a frequent target of Palestinian rocket fire from the nearby Gaza Strip, declared "There is a wind of peace heading our way and we must work to make it stronger, and that's why we're here."