During and after communicating with journalists in international and Arab media, I noticed a number of my colleagues gearing up for intensive coverage of the economic plan that was announced at the Dead Sea on Sunday, May 26. Some called it the Kerry Plan, in reference to US Secretary of State John Kerry. Others preferred to call it “Kerry’s dish.” Some pulled back, providing abbreviated coverage, while others ignored the matter entirely.

This may be attributed to the fact that, after analyzing the events, they discovered how limited their significance truly was. Indeed, it resembled nothing so much as the famous story about the third caliph, Umar bin al-Khattab, who chanced upon a woman placing a stone into water in an attempt to deceive her hungry children into believing she was preparing their supper. That way, they would endure through their hunger until, eventually, sleep overcame them.

Palestinian and Israeli businessmen announced during the World Economic Forum in the area of the Dead Sea in Jordan an initiative they called “Breaking the Impasse.” Kerry remarked, “This plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger, bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo over 20 years ago.” He described the plan as “transformative” and not “incremental,” drastically changing the face of the conflict. Perhaps Kerry’s intense fervor for the plan is what drew attention to it and has made many believe it to be his plan.

In order to put the plan in its proper context and grasp the extent of its importance, one might approach it from two angles. First is the immediate milieu and the events that it has produced. Second is an analysis of the prospects for success and their likely impact.