There are two ways to look at the recent actions of President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, both of whom are facing vociferous domestic and international opposition to their policies in the Middle East.
The two leaders, by design or coincidence, seem to be wanting to pull the rug from under the feet of some regional leaders who seem to be on the threshold of going it alone in resolving the area's looming problems which have the potential of creating devastating havoc in this strategic region. This was the case of Iraq's neighbours - Syria and Iran - offering to help the Baghdad government.
The seriousness of the deteriorating conditions in the region has been underlined in the well-chosen and much-quoted words of King Abdullah of Jordan in a recent US television interview.
"The difficulty that we're tackling with here is ... the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon or of Iraq. I keep saying Palestine is the core ... So, if you want to do comprehensive - comprehensive means bring all the parties of the region together."
Optimists are encouraged in light of the recent statements of Bush and Olmert which came days before the US president and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki were to meet in Amman along with the Jordanian monarch.
Undoubtedly hopeful
Bush promised in remarks in Latvia that he "will continue to be flexible and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed" in Iraq.
The president is undoubtedly hopeful that the three commissions, including the prominent Iraq Study Group led by former secretary of state James Baker and Congressman Lee Hamilton, will come with a face-saving formula to extricate his administration from the Iraqi quagmire.
And, similarly Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip and its continued occupation of the Palestinians' West Bank, now approaching 40 years and where according to an Israeli peace group nearly 40 per cent of the land held by Israeli colonies there are privately owned by Palestinians.
Yet, optimists may see hope in Olmert's surprise statement this week offering a series of incentives to the Palestinians, including negotiations and a prisoner release if the Palestinians stop their rocket attacks.
But the New York Times hit the nail on the head with its description of this Israeli offer as containing "little that was new". More likely, it was intended to shore up the standing of Bush in the Arab world as was his dispatch of Vice-President Dick Cheney for a two-hour meeting with the Saudi monarch.
A similar sideshow is the just-announced visit of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after the Amman summit to Israel and the West Bank to meet with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
No one has been more disparaging about the Bush administration's policies in the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, than former president Jimmy Carter, author of the just-published book, Palestine, Peace not Apartheid in which he said he hoped to expose American eyes to the Palestinian side of a nearly 60-year conflict.
He told a television interviewer that "the oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli forces in the occupied territories is horrendous", adding "and it's not something that has been acknowledged or even discussed" in the United States.
In reply to a question by CNN's Larry King about whether the Democratic Party will be as pro-Israel as the Republicans, Carter said unflinchingly:
"It's almost inconceivable for any members of the House and Senate to take any position that would be critical of Israel. That's one reason I wrote my book, is just to precipitate some controversy, to use your word, or provocation, that is to provoke debate on the issue and to let the people of America know that there are two sides to many issues in the Middle East and that in order ever to have peace for Israel, Israel will have to comply with international law. But I don't think it's likely at all that Democrats will be any more critical for the policies of Israel than were the Republicans."
The optimists will have to take off their blinders.
George Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com