The Israeli government has so far remained mum on Mubarak’s resignation, but former Israeli officials are expressing consternation about what the longtime ruler’s departure might portend.

Their biggest concern is whether the regime change in Egypt could impact its peace agreement with Cairo. And more broadly, they wonder whether, as part of a wider transformation of the Arab world, it could leave Israel even more isolated. Last year, regional powerhouse Turkey shifted away from its alliance with Israel, and there fears that the unrest could spread to neighboring Jordan, the only other Arab country that has a peace deal with Israel, or to the Palestinian territories.

“We have a tough period ahead of us,” Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador in Egypt, told Israel TV. “Iran and Turkey will consolidate positions against us. Forget about the former Egypt. Now it’s a completely new reality, and it won’t be easy.”

Also worried is Former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer a longtime friend of Mubarak.

“From this day on, I only have lots of questions about what will be, what will be the fate of the peace treaty between us and the Egyptians?” Ben-Eliezer told Israel TV’s Channel 10. “There are many questions that we don’t have answers for, how will this affect the entire region now?”

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(Source: MSNBC)