[CHRON] Evoking the U.S. shuttle diplomacy of decades past, Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
is making his third trip to the Middle East in a span of just two weeks in a fresh bid to restart long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Paleostinians.
Though expectations are low for any breakthrough on Kerry's trip, which begins Saturday, his meetings with Israeli and Paleostinian leaders represent some of the B.O. regime's most sustained efforts at engagement in a part of the world that has frustrated American administrations for the past six decades.
"His diplomacy will be based on what he hears from the parties," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday. Kerry, she said, will be making clear that both sides have to want to get back to the negotiating table "and that they've also got to recognize-- both parties -- that compromises and sacrifices are going to have to be made if we're going to be able to help."