A Year Later, About As Expected

Exactly one year ago:

Israel and Palestinians commit to 2008 peace treaty - Reuters

November 27, 2007 - With handshakes, leaders of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Tuesday to launch immediate talks to secure a peace treaty by the end of 2008 that would create a Palestinian state. President George W. Bush announced the deal at the opening of a 44-nation Middle East peace conference, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas standing at his side. "We're off to a strong start," Bush told delegates to the day-long conference, which included 14 Arab states -- among them Syria and Saudi Arabia -- as well as major powers Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Did you see this story when it came out?  Do you remember your impressions?  Did you think it would turn out something like this?:

Palestinian rocket hits Israeli house

November 27, 2008 - Israeli police say a rocket fired from Gaza has hit a house in southern Israel but caused no injuries.

Israel has kept its frontier with Gaza closed except for occasional shipments of essential humanitarian aid since a truce with Palestinian militants there started unraveling in early November in a series of cross-border rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes.

Israel says the border crossings will stay closed until the rocket fire comes to a stop.

The Middle East is nothing if not tragically predictable.  I’d love to be wrong, but something tells me we won’t be seeing a peace treaty in the next 35 days.