Hence, at a distance of several months in the course of the year 2007, a Think Tank forum brought together leading figures from the areas of politics, military, law, and academia. The group analyzed the content of the documents and their implications, projected future scenarios, and looked for possible solutions, partly referring to examples for models in other countries. It has to be emphasized that state institutions repeatedly have requested the meeting notes with the conclusions drawn by the forum. This demonstrates how such work leads to the promotion of important topics.

As an outcome of the forum’s work and as a test of future perspectives on the occasion of the anniversary of the date of publication of the "Future Vision" documents, the Konrad Adenauer Program organized a conference at Tel Aviv University on the topic of "Continuity and Change in Jewish Arab Relation in Israel: A Reality Check for the ‘Future Vision’ Documents".

A further dimension was added as the conference took place during the turbulent times of the Annapolis Conference. There was a heated discussion about the ongoing existence of Israel as a Jewish state, especially since a particular statement made by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was released shortly before the conference. According to Livni, the foundation of a Palestinian state would embrace “national aspirations” of Israeli Arabs. In response, an Arab-Israeli lecturer from Tel Aviv University said: "Let the Palestinians have a Palestinian state, we need our Palestine here (i.e. in Israel)".

Even weeks later, this slightly surprising remark received a lot of attention from the press both in Hebrew and Arabic. It furthermore challenged the forum to find a response to the question of what the actual "Future Vision" of Israel’s Arab citizens is.

Palina Kedem