Almost three months have gone by since US Secretary of State John Kerry announced at a news conference in Jordan the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and very little is known in political circles about their nature. Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni — who is in charge of negotiations — does not share information about her talks with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, even with members of her own Hatnua Party, which she chairs. Livni has not volunteered an iota of information in private conversations with her faction’s Knesset members either. She will only say the talks are serious, and she is under the impression that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sincere in his intent to achieve a peace agreement. 

Over the past three months, Livni has become a regular guest at Netanyahu’s office, spending many hours there discussing the negotiations with him and his confidant, attorney Yitzhak Molcho.

The silence from the negotiating front and Livni’s strengthening ties with Netanyahu have set off a flurry of rumors in right-wing circles in recent weeks, claiming that Netanyahu is moving speedily toward a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians. Other than the two signs mentioned above, the basis for the assumption that negotiations are progressing is unclear.

What is certainly progressing is the clock, whose hands are moving in giant leaps toward the deadline set by the Americans for the renewed negotiations — a total of nine months. This means that at the end of the Knesset’s winter session — which starts on Oct. 14 and ends in March 2014 — we will find out what happened with the talks. These are, thus, critical months for the process.