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The night of Sept 4 we sat on the Old City wall of Akko overlooking the Mediterranean. Flipping the dial of our portable radio we locked onto the BBC. The Jerusalem correspondent delivered a commentary revolving around fear—the mutual fear felt here between Arabs and Jews. Two young hikers had been murdered that week while hiking in the Meggido Forest—about 40km from where we sat. The hikers were Jewish. That day's Ha'aretz newspaper carried a front page article. The headline proclaimed that an "Israeli Arab" had been arrested for the crime. The BBC correspondent pointed out that in most countries a newspaper as reputable as Ha'aretz would not carry a reference to the ethnicity of the killer. But in Israel this is normal. According to the article the killer told the police, "I wanted to murder Jews. "

Madeline Albright had arrived that day in Egypt to support the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Government's attempt to reach an agreement as a follow up to the Wye Accords. The BBC was reporting a breakthrough—later that night an agreement would be signed at the Sinai resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh. Peace?