1 - All of the talk about Middle East deals got me thinking about the last major peace agreement in that part of the world between Israel and Jordan.

That was more than a quarter century ago.

How different things are now versus then!

2 - Here are a few photos I took after all of the ceremonies were over in Amman in late October 1994.

President Clinton signing a baseball with Jordan's King Hussein looking on & former Crown Prince Hassan looking on in the background.

3 - There was a lot of genuine hope in the air at that time for positive change - and the breakthrough was historic.

Here's a photo of the late King Hussein at the departure ceremony for President Clinton, who flew on to Syria and then went to Israel.

4 - Remember Secretary of State Warren Christopher?

5 - I was on a Fulbright in Jordan at the time & got to see President Clinton's speech in the Jordanian parliament. Found a video of it here just - watch it to underscore the contrast between then and now on many levels:

6 - One thing Clinton said back then rings true today: "But for peace to endure, it must not only provide protection. It must produce tangible improvements in the quality of ordinary citizens’ lives and in so doing, to give those citizens a real stake in preserving the peace."

7 - A lot of that hope back in 1994 was never realized.

Agreements are just ink on paper & require a lot more steps to build trust & confidence.

But most importantly...

8 - People in the region need to see the benefits of agreements signed by leaders & for those agreements to sustain & matter in the long run, they have to improves the lives of ordinary people in the region, especially the Palestinians.

9 - There are so many reasons why things fell short in the past quarter century - and some folks have made a career out of working on these issues & then analyzing it.

But we often lose sight of the basic question that should be asked in assessing all of these agreements:

10 - Are these deals avenues for improving the lives of more people or do they risk doing the exact opposite?