The leaders of Fatah and Hamas sign a reconciliation deal at the Egyptian intelligence services headquarters in Cairo on Oct. 12, ending their decadelong split.
What a couple of weeks it's been. As news of hurricanes became de rigueur, a massacre in Nevada, a Hollywood scandal and fires in California swept the headlines. "Yes, we are fine," a friend who lives outside Los Angeles texted me. "The fires are 400 miles north of us. If the fires burned this far south we would all be doomed." Then her tone got gloomy. "What is happening to the wine country is devastating. I have been grateful for the Harvey Weinstein scandal just to get my mind off the natural disasters we have been experiencing, not to mention war and health care. Otherwise, we're all fine." But rather than the Weinstein scandal, what turned my head from the world's myriad disasters was a sliver of hope: Palestinian parties Fatah and Hamas signed a deal on Oct. 12 that may bring their people closer together.
