It’s impossible to mistake the feeling of optimism that US President Barack Obama left behind as he boarded Air Force One. By the end of his fifty-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it was quite tangible. All anyone had to do was to watch his lengthy handshake with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just seconds before he left.

While it is certainly true that there were other, more dramatic physical gestures made during the course of his visit (the countless times Obama hugged President Shimon Peres and his unforgettable stroll with Netanyahu when they both removed their jackets and slung them over their shoulders are two examples that immediately come to mind).

But it seems like that handshake at the airport really reflected the sense of satisfaction that people felt at the end of the president’s visit. It was a long, warm handshake; it looked genuinely heartfelt. It almost seemed as if the prime minister wanted to keep clutching the president’s hand, as if to assure him that, “I’ll surprise you yet. From now on everything is about to change. You’ll see.” People with longer memories might remember a similar scene, when Netanyahu and former Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat shared another warm and gracious handshake. That happened immediately after the urgent White House summit organized by Bill Clinton in September 1996, after the Western Wall Tunnel riots. Then, too, there was a feeling in the air that Netanyahu and Arafat were opening a new chapter in their relationship.

“I found a new friend,” Netanyahu had said about Arafat. Now, we can only hope that the fate of his renewed friendship with the president of the United States is very different from the fate of his friendship with Arafat.