Despite the collapse of Middle East peace talks, examples of inspiring leaders from the past show reconciliation shouldn’t be impossible:

 Faisal I, king of Syria and later Iraq, a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad, endorsed the idea—in 1919!—of a “national home” for the Jewish people in the Middle East. He told a Zionist banquet: “No true Arab can be suspicious or afraid of Jewish nationalism…We are demanding Arab freedom, and we should show ourselves unworthy of it, if we did not now, as I do, say to the Jews – welcome back home.”

 And—as recently as 1977—Egypt’s Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem to address Israel’s parliament and to plead for peace, bringing a treaty that’s lasted 35 years.

 The missing ingredient for broader Middle East peace has always been Arab leaders of courage and vision.