Secretary Rice in the Middle East

AP is reporting that Secretary Rice is "conceding" that she will be unable to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year.

This is likely to be spun as some kind of "failure" on the part of the Bush administration. But that would be a mistake. No U.S. administration has been able to truly bridge the gap between the Israelis and the Palestinians, despite considerable effort. Secretary of State Kerry will fare no better.