A series of meetings between United States and Syrian diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, at the United Nations last week are stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward engaging Damascus.

What do Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former U.S. President Bill Clinton have in common? Not much one might guess, and this is generally true. But when one examines their careers closely one would be surprised that the two lame-duck leaders attempted in the few weeks before they left office to resolve once and for all the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

JERUSALEM -- Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has suddenly had an epiphany on his personal road to Damascus as he tries to portray himself as a prophet of peace weeks before he will be forced to step down.

DAMASCUS, Syria -- After the end of the Cold War, the West began to perceive Muslim fundamentalism as the new threat to their stability. Recent fighting between Georgia and Russia has brought back specters of that Cold War.

What the Arab papers said on Oct. 6:

A statement by the retiring Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has provoked a shock reaction in Israel and restrained joy among Arabs. "I am saying what no previous Israeli leader has ever said: we should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including East Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights," Olmert said in an interview to the Yediot Ahronot on the eve of the Jewish New Year.

Will Israels Prime Minister designate Tsipi Livni order a strike against Iran? Highly unlikely, at least not before the November elections in the United States, and possibly not at all. The anti-Israel fear mongers in Washington and elsewhere are likely to be proven wrong once again.

With his characteristic clear-sightedness and knowledge of history, General Charles de Gaulle used to say that "one should not insult the future." He also believed that simple ideas were needed to address "the complicated Middle East." In the immediate future two important events will have an influence on the situation in the Middle East: the change of prime minister in Israel and the U.S. presidential elections in the United States.

There is a new Israeli prime minister and the U.S. government is virtually bankrupt: Many people across the Middle East are happy at both developments for very understandable reasons, but we should be careful about what we wish for. And we need to understand how the two developments affect each other.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been elected the leader of the ruling Kadima party, beating her opponent, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, by a mere 2 percent.