As the Obama administration’s top diplomatic brass fly to the Middle East to resuscitate the peace process, they will be inspired that 15 years ago Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan shook hands at the White House and inaugurated a lasting peace.
This week the Middle East will again take centre stage as an ‘airlift of American officials’, three of President Obama’s most senior advisers, arrives in Israel instructed to breathe life back in to the negotiations with the Palestinians while simultaneously pushing for a regional peace plan. The difficulties and sticking points have been well documented and Obama, a man embarking on the most ambitious set of policies, will find the Middle East surely one of his most difficult challenges.
But fifteen years ago this week, the world’s media was reporting a far happier outlook for the Middle East.
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