Monday July 1, 2013

I've Been Thinking:

US Secretary of State John Kerry has wrapped up nearly four days of shuttling back and forth between Bibi Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Kerry met with leader three times.

As he was departing Ben Gurion airport outside of Tel Aviv Kerry said: "I'm pleased to tell you that we have made real progress on this trip. And I believe that with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach. We started out with very wide gaps, and we have narrowed those considerably."

He punctuated his remarks by saying: "I know progress when I see it."

Kerry is confident that progress has been made, but that does not mean that the parties are ready to sit down and talk about final status accords.

What Kerry was saying is that the huge disagreements between the Israelis and the Palestinians have become less pronounced. And yes, there is no doubt that we can call that progress.

Now I await the next stage ... actually sitting down to talk. I wait, but I am not holding my breath.

Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah

To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com