"[Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu has switched the clock of the peace process back to the pre-Oslo days. Peacemaking in the Middle East will not be the same in the future," senior diplomatic sources in Paris tell Al-Monitor. They contend that bilateral negotiations are out of the question, unilateral moves are unhelpful, and therefore we must return to multilateral efforts.

There was great disappointment in European capitals with the Obama-Netanyahu meeting on Oct. 1. While the White House slapped the Israeli prime minister in the face with the formal condemnation of settlement construction in East Jerusalem, nothing much was achieved in terms of the renewal of the peace process. The Europeans, mainly France and the United Kingdom, are concerned that the emphasis on the fight against the Islamic State (IS) will lead to a hibernation of Middle Eastern peace efforts.

In transatlantic contacts, State Department officials admitted to their European counterparts that US President Barack Obama has virtually given up on the chances for a viable peace process as long as Netanyahu is in power. Israeli "settlement first" policy is so far achieving its goals. Yet, European sources say there is too much at stake at the core of the Middle East and that a transformation of the peace process is necessary. Also in Washington, policy analysts on the Middle East team are looking for innovative ways to resuscitate peace hopes.

Both the Europeans and Americans foresee that without such innovative efforts, a variety of doomsday scenarios are possible, from a violent intifada, mega-terrorism against Israel and even open warfare between Israeli and Palestinian Authority security forces. They are also very much aware that leaving the bleeding Palestinian wound open is detrimental to the efforts to stabilize the broader region.