Photo Gallery Progress in Washington
Negotiating partners Mubarak, Netanyahu, Obama, Abbas and King Abdullah II in the East Room of the White House: "Every peace begins with leaders." The leaders converged on Washington last week for the opening of the ninth Middle East peace process.
Progress was made at the meeting, but discussion of the most serious issues was avoided. Here, mourners attend the funeral of four Israelis killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai near Hebron. Discussion of the moratorium on the construction of settlements was not on the agenda in Washington.
Each of the four leaders came to America with a different agenda. Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, would like to talk President Obama into going to war against Iran over its nuclear program. Here, an Iranian woman is seen carrying a protest placard during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran.
For any leader, the Middle East peace process is a difficult endeavor. During her meeting with the leaders, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiled in a motherly way from one to the next, but the expression on her face seemed to be saying: Come on boys, don't leave me hanging.
