The most important diplomatic initiative in the Middle East isn’t the one taking place in Gaza, where the Israeli military shows no inclination to stop its military offensive against Hamas. It’s the discreet back-channel talks being led by Amos Hochstein, who is fast emerging as one of President Joe Biden’s most trusted troubleshooters. His task: negotiate a deescalation between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border area, prevent a wider conflict from erupting, and if all else holds, get all the parties around the table to strike a permanent border deal.

The last item on that list is a tall order, no matter how skilled the negotiator. And quite frankly, it’s probably not worth wasting too much time on right now because the odds of success are so low. Getting the Israelis and Hezbollah to stop shooting at each other, however, is doable, and it’s where Hochstein should invest all of his efforts.