The opening of the ninth peace process lasted 36 minutes, and as would be expected, there was much talk of peace: true, permanent, fair, comprehensive, lasting and secure peace. Benjamin Netanyahu alone uttered the word "peace" 28 times. That's a lot for a man, for whom, until now, one would not have thought peace was his favorite word. One member of the Israeli press corps whispered that Netanyahu could have been mistaken for a representative of the Meretz, the country's answer to the Green Party.
In the competition to claim the title of peace seeker-in-chief, the Israeli prime minister came out on top, leading Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (who mentioned the word "peace" 20 times), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (18) and Jordan's King Abdullah II (11). The other three are veterans in the peace process -- with its steps forward and its many setbacks -- and, thus, claimed to be "cautiously optimistic."
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