Some Israelis Dread Peace Talks
The renewal of negotiations brings no guarantees, while the status quo of the last few years offered relative security to both Israelis and Palestinians.
![Israeli parliament employees set up a Palestinian flag next to an Israeli one ahead of a meeting between Israeli parliament members and a delegation of Palestinian politicians and businessmen at Israeli parliament in Jerusalem Israeli parliament employees set up a Palestinian flag (L) next to an Israeli one as they prepare ahead of a meeting between Israeli parliament members and a delegation of Palestinian politicians and businessmen, aimed at encouraging Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem July 31, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Tuesday gave themselves about nine months to try reach an agreement on ending their conflict of more than six decades in U.S.-brokered pe](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2013/07/RTX125RP.jpg/RTX125RP.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=C_r4fduH)
I am writing the following as a citizen — not as an analyst of Israeli and regional politics, and not as a politician with a worldview. I am writing the following as an Israeli citizen who sits in cafes with friends, buys pizza for her children and gets stuck in traffic behind buses: The renewal of talks between Israelis and Palestinians fills me with dread.
Analysts of the peace process, pleased by their renewed relevance, speak of the guarded hope, general skepticism and mostly indifference of Israelis and Palestinians, who believe little will come of the renewed talks. What I feel is neither hope, nor skepticism, nor indifference.