US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have gone to Europe to charm back America's straying allies, but when the EU's Javier Solana kissed her hand, I wonder if Rice was the one who got charmed? Read about it here

As I've reported before, Solana is also known as Mr. Huggy. He likes to hug people -- and, evidently, kiss hands. It's said, when he enters a building, the first thing Solana does is locate all his friends and acquaintances to say hello. Yet, you wouldn't expect anything less from Europe's first Kissinger class diplomat.

You see, Henry Kissinger was, and is, a charmer too. I had the priviledge to meet Kissinger at a conference where he was speaking. The press was provided a special media tent where, if we were lucky, the speakers would pay us a visit. The interesting thing about Kissinger was, unlike all the other speakers who stood above us on a platform and spoke from behind a podium, Kissinger stood beside the podium. In fact, he leaned against it. The simple gesture put everyone in the tent at complete ease.

Then the final stroke came. After Kissinger's little speech, he stepped down from the platform and began walking among us, just like one of the guys. He even let me have my picture taken with him. You couldn't help but like the man.

 Like I said, Solana appears to have the Kissinger touch. And, I believe the world is beginning to feel the power of his charm. It's being reported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has fired up to nine of his security officers and is preparing to confront the militant leaders who were responsible for Thursday's mortar and rocket attack against Israel Read about it here. As I've been reporting, I think what got the peace process moving again is Solana's European Neighborhood Policy. Everybody wants a piece of the EU pie.

I even suspect the terrorist group Hamas may be falling victim to Solana's charm. Although, officially, Hamas said it has agreed to no cease fire -- and may have sent this latest barrage to punctuate the point -- I still suspect some kind of deal may have been struck with some, if not all, of the Hamas leaders. My reason for thinking this is, besides hearing about secret talks between Solana and Hamas, without some kind of green light from inside Hamas, the summit in Egypt would never have taken place. Hamas just has too much political influence in the region. If you recall, Hamas won more votes in the recent Palestinian election than did the Palestinian Authority.

Of course, I could be wrong. Abbas' plea for calm could be answered with an even bigger attack. Israel's military could be forced to respond and the window of opportunity would be slammed closed. If that happened, the Palestinian people would feel more hopeless than they did before. I don't even want to think about what could happen next. 

Yet, no matter which way these talks between Abbas and Hamas go, we know where this all will end. According to the Bible, there will come a time of peace for Israel and the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, it will be a false, short-lived peace. But, peace will finally come.

And, if I've been right, it'll be by that charming Mr. Huggy.