You might think they were in the same room. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his Palestinian counterpart actually sat for Time in Jerusalem and Gaza City, respectively. Two men, just a few miles away, in fact separated by light-years of misunderstandings.

So it was this summer when Barak came to Camp David resolved to settle the Palestinian question with an unprecedented concession: a Palestinian state. Later he considered having Jerusalem's holiest sites administered by a third party. It was a stunning, failed leap. Negotiations collapsed, the Holy Land exploded, and Barak resigned in an effort to stay in power. For this former general, the way to peace, if there was any, would be through war, both political and real.