President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, is in Israel, ostensibly for his son’s Bar Mitzva (coming of age at 13), which he calls a totally personal affair. But he has meetings scheduled with Israeli President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak. Israeli sources say he is meeting with the three most powerful government figures in that nation to make sure Israel does not snap the leash and make a preemptive move toward any of the conjoined states of Iran/Syria/Lebanon.

John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in Syria to talk with Syrian President Assad about the ’stability of the region’ and… again according to Israeli sources… to keep the Syrians and, more especially, Lebanese Hisballah from overreacting to the largest war preparedness drill Israel has ever undertaken. That drill, Turning Point 4, started a few hours ago and will last for at least five days.

Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, charged with the State Department’s portfolio for Syria and Lebanon, is giving press conferences around the Middle East, including Syria, to air US concerns about Syria transferring munitions to Hisballah in Lebanon. His job is to kennel the dogs of war throughout the region. I do not envy him.

We are trying very hard to keep a war from starting right now.

That’s good.

But the necessity for extraordinary acts in the service of peace tells me that peace is far from certain.