After long hours of discussion, a senior diplomatic-security forum that met last week [March 24] to discuss the immediate implications of a breakdown in the negotiations with the Palestinians released a pessimistic and worrisome report. The participants in the forum, which was sponsored by one of Israel’s leading research institutions, had played key roles for years on the diplomatic and security fronts, some of them until only recently. The purpose of this brainstorming session was to present potential scenarios in advance of the seemingly inevitable breakdown of the talks with the Palestinians.
Although there have long been similar prognoses of Israel’s diplomatic isolation should there be no peace process, the picture painted this time is even more depressing than usual. There was unanimity at the table that a negative outcome of the talks — renewed in June 2013 — would place Israel in an even more diplomatically problematic situation.
