ABSTRACT
During the negotiations, and especially during the more intense periods of the political process, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben-Ami and I often met with experts, academics and senior officials from past administrations to examine and analyze concepts, models, positions and possible alternatives for the negotiations. In the second week of October, I convened an external brainstorming group to examine the positions and arrangements that were being discussed in the negotiations. The diversified group evolved into a political forum and contributed on an ongoing basis to our thinking and to shaping the overall policy. It accompanied us throughout the process as an external, independent and discreet forum with multidisciplinary experience. The lively discussions exposed the Israeli negotiations team to a range of new ideas, many of which were later implemented.
