In diplomacy, as in life, the

Stripe-suited men and women speaking different languages, but all sharing an expertise in Israel, the Wholesale Handbags United States or both, were sitting in foreign ministries around the world over the last three days scratching their heads and trying to evaluate Tuesday's White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Diplomats from Ankara to Amman, Cairo to Copenhagen, Ramallah to Rome, Teheran to Tokyo, were all busy writing internal memos focusing on what the meeting meant and how it impacted on their governments' policies. And, almost certainly, as far as getting information about what was actually said at the private meeting, the diplomats were all dipping from the very same well - and that well was dry.

In the days that followed the fifth meeting between Netanyahu and Obama in their current roles, precious little was leaked about what was actually discussed behind closed doors - what Obama said about construction in Jerusalem, or what Netanyahu said about extending the settlement construction moratorium. As a result, evaluations and assessments are being drawn up based on what happened in the open, in the full glare of the television cameras, and with the microphones working.

And out there in the open, as all the world witnessed, Obama and Netanyahu oozed affection.

The cynics, both here and abroad, will say it was not real, that it was all for show, and that the warm meeting in public was the result of cold political calculations by both men. Obama needed to show Jewish contributors to the Democratic Party for whom Israel is very important that the relationship remained rock-solid, and Netanyahu needed to show his electorate that his polices wholesale lingerie did not cause a tectonic rift with the US.

But the cynics are missing a very important point. In diplomacy, like in much else, perception is what matters, often - oddly - even trumping reality. And the choreographed love affair put on in the Oval Office - real or make believe - is what the US administration wanted the world to see.

That perception is right now all that those diplomats in all those foreign ministries have to go on in writing the memos that will impact on their countries' polices. Their assessments and evaluations will come under the headline of "the Netanyahu-Obama meeting, a warming of US- Israeli ties." Policy decisions in capitals around the world, including in Cairo, Damascus, Amman and Ramallah, will be made based on that assumption.

For instance, based on the show put on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority will have to decide whether it would be wise to continue avoiding direct negotiations, banking on the hope that if it holds out longer, Obama might pressure Netanyahu into declaring a total settlement freeze.

Based on Tuesday's meeting, the Turks will have to decide whether to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel, trying to judge what type of reaction that would elicit from the US. With Obama bashing Netanyahu, they might conclude that the reaction would be minor; with the US president caressing Netanyahu, the conclusion is likely to be considerably different.

So, too, when EU foreign ministers get together and draw up their monthly foreign policy statements. These statements are likely to be much tougher with an Obama perceived as impatient with Israel, than at a time when he is seen as Netanyahu's pal.

PERCEPTION, THEREFORE, has the power to shape reality, and TuesdayReplica Watches
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