The tiny café was set for an event: Chairs were arranged in a semi-circle, and on each table were plates of pie and cheesecake. [...] The guest of honor, Elias Zananiri, had made the trip from Ramallah on behalf of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as part of recent initiative by Palestinian officials to hold parlor meetings with Israelis.

Israel's Prime Minister has agreed to 24-hour video surveillance at a disputed Jerusalem holy site -- a move that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said could be "a game-changer" to reduce regional bloodshed.

At times, digital diplomacy may be used to foster dialogue between two countries that have yet to establish diplomatic relations.  Last month, Twitter announced that another world leader had joined the world of digital diplomacy – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sunday’s gathering of the pope, Peres and Abbas saw delegations of Rabbis (mostly Israeli) and Muslim Imams (mostly Palestinian) sitting in one section of the spacious Vatican garden while high ranking Catholic clergy sat in one long line in another side of the garden.  Facing them, at some distance, to the left and right of the pope, were Abbas and Peres – all three in stately chairs spaced almost embarrassingly well apart.

Israeli and Palestinian presidents meet in an unprecedented prayer meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday, a gesture he hopes will “re-create a desire, a possibility” of eventually re-launching the Middle East’s stalled peace process.

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will meet with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray for peace on June 8.  The pontiff extended the invitation to President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when he was on his official visit to the Holy Land earlier this week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the new government that will be formed following the Palestinian reconciliation will recognize Israel, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday. Psaki said that Abbas told Kerry that the future unity government with Hamas will be his government and represent his policies – it will recognize Israel, abide by past agreements and will renounce violence. "It's a positive thing," she said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s statements before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should not have surprised anyone. They simply expressed the frustration that many senior American officials have been voicing in private conversations over the past week about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The storm was unleashed because Kerry said out loud what he was thinking.