Hillary Clinton may have received more than kisses from Israeli leaders on her first official trip to the nation. Leaders there are not exactly enthusiastic about the secretary of state’s insistence of a two-state solution to the war between Palestine and Israel. 

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t support such a plan, but Clinton told CNN, "the two-state solution is the inevitable, inescapable outcome of any effort. It is hard to imagine what other positive outcome could be arrived at."

The U.S. currently supports the Palestinian authority as "the only legitimate government of the Palestinian people" — a direct swipe at Hamas, which controls Gaza. And, to help relations, Clinton met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and plans to talk with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She said Wednesday Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel before being brought into the diplomatic fold. For their part, Palestinian leaders are urging Clinton to push Israel to freeze construction in West Bank settlements, stop bulldozing Palestinian homes, and open Gaza Strip borders. Most importantly, Palestinians are looking for signs of change from the Obama administration as to how President Bush handled relations in the region.

"Palestinians want to hear her say those magic words: That the American administration under President Barack Obama would seek to end the Israeli occupation," said Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Ramallah.

Earlier Tuesday, Clinton met Israeli President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, but "they don’t see too much hope for the Israeli-Palestinian track right now," MSNBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell reported this morning.

With no clear success at hand on this front, the Obama administration hopes Syria, which has close ties with Iran and has long feuded with Israel, can play a role. Clinton warned, however, “we have no way to predict what the future of our relations with Syria might be.”

From The New York Times:

By seeking an understanding with Syria, which has cultivated close ties to Iran, the United States could increase the pressure on Iran to respond to its offer of direct talks. Such an understanding would also give Arab states and moderate Palestinians the political cover to negotiate with Israel. That, in turn, could increase the burden on Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, to relax its hostile stance toward Israel.

Whoever ends up playing a role in the negotiations, Secretary Clinton will no doubt have to use all of her diplomatic abilities. Do you think she’s up to the task?