If the order in which things are said is telling of priorities and concern, then the world got an interesting look at different agendas this week when traveling US Secretary of State John Kerry and his host, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, met the press in London on Monday.

As is customary, the two held a brief press conference after their meeting – Kerry’s first abroad as secretary of state – and Hague got the ball rolling with an opening statement.

“We’ve had detailed and very thorough talks covering the full range of global affairs,” he said. “Top of our agenda was the Middle East, including the importance we both attach to ending the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and I welcome the focus that he has brought to bear on this issue since his appointment. There is no more urgent foreign policy priority in 2013 than restarting negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The region and the world can’t afford the current dangerous impasse in the peace process; for if we don’t make progress very soon, then the two-state solution could become impossible to achieve.”

There you have it. More than 60,000 Syrians have been slaughtered in that country, Iran continues to march toward nuclear capability, North Korea recently detonated another nuclear device, Europe’s economy is teetering on the brink, but for Hague and the British Foreign Office “there is no more urgent foreign policy priority in 2013” than Israel and the Palestinians.