A senior Israeli West Bank commander cautioned in an interview Tuesday that negotiators have only a short window before the recent quiet there is broken. Today's calm is not forever, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. If our political echelon won't get anything in these negotiation channels, we will face an escalation on the ground - in six months, nine months - something like that.

Improved security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian security services has helped usher in one of the quietest periods in Israel's 62-year history. But, the officer added, that could unravel quickly. I'm not sure that the Palestinian security forces will be able to keep this good coordination or whether they will want to if talks fail, the officer said.

Amid such worries, Israeli military planners are studying intensively what a third Palestinian intifada, or outbreak of violence, could look like and how they would respond. They also are warning Israel's political leadership of the possible outcomes of failed negotiations, the officer said.