BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - UNITED STATES President Barack Obama scored a diplomatic coup last week on his whirlwind trip to the Middle East. At first there was much speculation that the tour would merely be a widow-dressing exercise, especially among the Palestinians.
However, there is now some scope for progress though somewhat tangentially. First there was the belated apology that came from Israel for the 2010 commando raid on an aid flotilla on a Turkish vessel carrying supplies to Palestine. This shows that diplomacy works but often requires patience.
Clearly this development came after much pressure from Obama but the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized and agreed to compensate the victims’ families, was enough to restore bilateral relations between the countries.