Al Jazeera English (AJE) broke a story on Sunday that may have the same emotive impact among Palestinians that the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi had in Tunisia (also heavily reported by AJE). That story came in the form of over 1,600 documents apparently from the Palestinian negotiating support unit that detail meeting after meeting of Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S.

Since the WikiLeaks scandal exploded at the end of last year, many commentators have declared this episode marks "the end of diplomacy." Nonsense.

For almost two centuries, even world leaders have feared that communications technology would marginalize diplomacy's special role in international relations.

When Lord Palmerston received the first diplomatic cable at London's Whitehall in the mid-1800s, he proclaimed, "This is the end of diplomacy!"

2010 was the year that removed all doubt that cybersecurity is now a geopolitical problem.

We learned from diplomatic cables exposed by WikiLeaks that from Europe to the Middle East to China and beyond, Washington is having an even tougher time than we thought getting what it wants. The leaks themselves have only made matters more delicate, not just by embarrassing some of America’s friends, but by fueling conspiracy theories that Washington was somehow behind the leaks.

Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell is back in the region conducting his shuttle diplomacy, settlement construction continues apace and the much-anticipated speech of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to avoid hard choices. It's business as usual, so presumably we can all relax — Israel has dodged another peace bullet.

No so fast. I would suggest that recent events should have sent the gevalt-o-meter into the red zone for anyone concerned about Israel's future or shared American-Israeli interests.