Photo: President Obama, Secretary Kerry, President Abbas and Bethlehem Mayor Baboun

[ProSense]

President Obama and Secretary Kerry Are Greeted By Palestinian Authority President Abbas and Bethlehem Mayor Baboun

U.S. President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are greeted by Bethlehem Mayor Vera Baboun, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, upon arrival at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on March 22, 2013.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos

[karynnj]

1. Nice photo - thanks

[YvonneCa]

2. Great picture. Thanks for posting...

...it here.

Anyone else have the feeling that this time things will be different? Or am I being too hopey/changey?

[karynnj]

3. I do see some very big PUBLIC differences that could make this time different

However I also think that the situation itself is getting progressively worse and a solution harder.

The public differences are the strong comments made IN ISRAEL that most US politicians have been too timid to make even in the US. I think the call made by Obama to the students to think of the future and his call that they try to look at things from the eyes of the Palestinians are interesting. I wonder if the idea is that the only thing that would move Netanyahu (and other Israeli leaders) is a groundswell of demand for making peace from the population.

I also think it is interesting that Obama has given the lead on this to Kerry rather than a special envoy -- like Mitchell or Ross who were sequentially involved when Clinton was SOS. Though Obama might have had to do this because diplomacy was not Clinton's strength and she quickly alienated the entire Arab world, putting the SOS in the lead does signal seriousness. That the SOS is Kerry, who is well respected on both sides helps, but this is a thorny mess.

Years ago, when pushing Kerry/Feingold, Kerry spoke of the different Iraqi factions needing to understand that we would be there for only a finite time and that they needed to create the political solution that they could then live with. He said that until they knew we were not staying, all sides were avoiding making any compromises because all thought time on their side and thought they could get more of what they wanted by holding out. The latter part of that has a part in the calculations here. The extremes on both sides have delusional ideas that they could end up in control in a one state solution - with nothing given to the other. There are many on both sides that have already called a two state solution dead. Could the accelerated building of settlements - something that by definition make the two state solution harder - be based on some elements in Israel more willing to sacrifice being a democracy where everyone has voting rights than to really give up land?

A few weeks ago, I attended an interesting lecture given by the professor who has been an archivist of the George Marshall papers on Marshall and his disapproval of the UN resolution that gave Israel its birth. The reasons included that he was convinced that it could lead to a second holocaust as it was predicted the Arabs would attack. The other reason had to do with the fact that even then - the assignment of land to the majority population on it resulted in two states neither of which were contiguous in a land mass the size of Vermont. The General Assembly with that vote charged the Security Council with implementing a plan that would not lead to war - something that was not done because it was deemed not possible. Truman ignored his advise and voted for it - mostly because their was huge support from Americans. What struck me is that the roots of the problem were not - as I always had thought - in the lands won in 1965, but that from the beginning, it was going to be hard to create two states that could both honor the rights of all.

[ProSense]

4. News:

John Kerry To Meet With Palestinian, Israeli Leaders

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday in an effort to jumpstart stalled peace talks, according to Reuters.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/john-kerry-to-meet-with-palestinian-israeli-leaders

<...>

Kerry's back-to-back meetings will follow up on President Barack Obama's visits to Israel and the Palestinian Territories this week in which he called for fresh diplomatic efforts but offered no new peace proposals of his own.

Obama promised that Kerry, Washington's new top diplomat, would dedicate time and energy to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, one in which the president failed to make progress during his first term. Kerry accompanied Obama on his four-day Middle East trip.

"In addition to meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu this evening, Secretary Kerry will meet with President Abbas at his house in Amman later this afternoon to continue the conversations they started with President Obama and the secretary earlier this week," a State Department official said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/23/us-israel-palestinians-kerry-idUSBRE92M04620130323

[YvonneCa]

6. MSNBC actually reported this...

...this morning. EXCELLENT news. Hopeful...

[YvonneCa]

5. Thank you for the thoughtful...

...response, karynnj.

I agree with what you have said, especially your first sentence about the situation worsening. My understanding is that demographic changes in the area are part of the reason the window for a solution is rapidly closing. While Hillary Clinton did some amazing work, this issue has not improved since 2008. The fact that this responsibility has now been immediately given to our new SOS, reinforces for me that President Obama is making this priority #1.

I have to go out this morning, but will add more thoughts to this later...

[ProSense]

7. Is this a little diplomat in the making

President Obama and Secretary Kerry Shake Hands With U.S. Embassy Amman Employees and Their Families

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry greet employees and families of U.S. Embassy Amman on March 23, 2013 [State Department Photo/Public Domain]

[karynnj]

8. What a cute little boy -and he does look very attentive

Nice photo

[JI7]

9. such a cute pic , gets to meet the President and SOS