One (very) small step

It is a small step, to be sure, and perhaps even more than just a tad disingenuous, but this week’s statement by an Arab League spokesman about a solution to the Israel-Palestinian statehood standoff offers a glimmer of hope that peace someday might break out in the Middle East.

The spokesman, Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem al-Thani, told a Washington press conference that the Arab League might not object to what he called “comparable” and “minor” exchanges of land, exchanges that would readjust Israel’s borders so that it could feel more secure living alongside a “State of Palestine.”

The statement came after a League delegation met with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, and it does represent at least a public shift away from the all-or-nothing stance of the past.

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Whether it is just words meant to mollify its hosts, however, only time will tell. Still, it holds out an at least vague promise of future peace, and that must be counted as a step in the right direction.