The Quest for Peace in the Middle East

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listen during remarks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

This week, President Barack Obama, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Tony Blair assembled at the White House for an evening 'working dinner'; together with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas, and their respective negotiating teams they seem keen to begin a new round of peace talks.

As i watched these events unfold in Washington, with PM Netanyahu and President Abbas making statements as to their commitment to engaging in the first face-to-face talks in 2 years, i kept wondering how much pain, hardship...the people in the territories represented by these two men...have had to endure in the many decades of 'talks' and 'signing' of accords most memorably the Oslo accord, in September of 1993, between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. And the many more parts of the world that continue to suffer the wounds of conflict and unrest...in the 21st Century...

How elusive can peace be? How often we take peace for granted! May peace prevail in the world!
                                             Shalom...Salaam...Peace!