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The article focuses on a policy paper "Breaking the Israel Palestine Status Quo," which was presented at a web-based conference organized by this journal. It was prepared by former policy makers who assessed what U.S. engagement has been in the region and to re-imagine that engagement. It is noted that Palestinians wanted the U.S. involved, was because they believed that only U.S. can deliver Israel.

The article presents several letters published in various news papers including "Enterprise-Record," "The Plain Dealer" and "Portland Press Herald." The topics include increasing violence witnessed during Israel- Palestine conflict, U.S. President Joe Biden's support for Israel and the need for U.S. to change its policy towards Israel.

The article informs that Middle East Institute hosted a program on Nathan Stock's recently released paper "There is No ‘Status Quo': Drivers of Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It mentions that Stock argues that domestic Israeli politics, Palestinian leadership, lack of legal status for Palestinians and the continuing illegal Israeli occupation are key drivers of violent conflict.

The article discusses the highlights of a two day conference entitled "Jews and Muslims in France: The Challenge of Multiculturalism in Contemporary Europe" held in Washington, D.C. on March 17 and 18, 2010. A paper presented by Maud Mandel of Brown University revealed the impact of Israel's conflict with its neighbors on Jews and Muslims in France. Frédérick Encel of Sciences Po, social university in Paris, discussed France's strategic orientation in the Middle East since the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.