"I regard the invasion of the person's space sitting behind me as an unfortunate, but easily tolerated, side-effect of my attempt to achieve amodicumof comfort while flying, " wrote travel guru Arthur Frommer in his blog this year.
Public letters and private conversations had the desired effect: Barack Obama began treating his Israeli counterpart with amodicumof respect and the optics ofa restarted peace process - however shortlived or doomed - helped conjur up an image ofa renewed partnership between the two nations.