By Mara Rudman, Brian Katulis | December 11, 2007

The ink on the joint Israeli-Palestinian understanding is dry, the delegates have gone home, and the streets of Annapolis are no longer crowded with diplomatic security details. After Annapolis, everyone is asking: what next?

Even before the sessions began, pundits on the left and right flashed their skepticism in editorials and commentary. Extremists on the fringes — Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians alike — took to their streets to protest a meeting aimed at jumpstarting the peace process. With such cynicism and downright opposition, the safe bet was on Annapolis achieving nothing. The meeting seemed doomed, its legs ready to snap from the attacking and pointed intellectual arguments made by sharp analysts for whom critique is stock in trade. There was equally vociferous opposition from radicals who have killed brave leaders, and used violence to terrorize the silent majorities, to intimidate those who support a two-state solution.

This article was originally published in Daily Star Egypt.