The Middle East talks

New talks on the Middle East must be good news as compared with no talks at all. That still leaves the event proposed for early May in London as obscure as the way in which the plan emerged. It was not clear whether this would be a proper summit, or an industrial-type negotiation to be performed by the U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright running between different rooms. Is it worth coming to London just for that?

The answer is still yes. The process is in desperate need of a new venue and a new context. The ritual of U.S. shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Gaza has numbed external awareness and solidified the internal stalemate. A London meeting with full publicity should bring the conflict and the issues into sharper focus.

-- The Guardian, London