I arrived in Israel thinking that when the earth collides with a meteorite 500 million years from now, Israelis and Palestinians will still be fighting. I came home more optimistic. There may actually be reason to hope.

Let's start with the bad stuff. The other day I stood on a hill overlooking the Palestinian West Bank. It's not a “bank” anymore - it's more like a patchwork quilt. Little islands of Palestine are surrounded by Israeli settlements that just keep growing. It's easy to tell the Palestinian homes: they have black water tanks on the roof, because Israel doesn't assign them enough water.

Most of these Israeli settlers aren't religious extremists from Brooklyn with rifles. They are ordinary Israelis - teachers and computer programmers who want cheap homes. Even a few Israeli peace activists live in settlements.