Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan greets Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, at Erdoğan's new, $575 million palace in Ankara as 16 Turkish warriors dressed in historical armor stand guard. Photo via Associated Press.

The State Department has released a list of gifts to federal employees, including President Obama, from foreign governments in 2009. (Diplomats have been playing with them for a full year.) So which foreign dignitary gave our president the cheapest gift?

Because he doesn't have enough to do, President Obama is hosting direct talks between Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, starting at dinner Wednesday. The main course... was hope. And, some kind of actual food, one imagines.

Israel and Palestine have agreed to resume talks, which would begin in September in Washington.