(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Former secretary of state and current Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton was advised in 2011 to force Israel to resume peace negotiations by secretly fomenting a Palestinian uprising, according to a newly revealed email.

The plan was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation into Clinton’s private emails while she served as secretary of state. In an email on Dec. 18, 2011, former U.S. ambassador Thomas Pickering, who was serving as an adviser to Clinton at the time, suggested that the U.S. covertly generate Palestinian unrest in an effort to push Jerusalem to jump-start stalled peace talks.

“What will change the situation is a major effort to use nonviolent protests and demonstrations to put peace back in the center of people’s aspirations as well as their thoughts, and use that to influence the political leadership,” Pickering wrote.

Clinton requested that his email be printed.

Pickering was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 1985-88. In his email, he claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “cannot deliver anything the Palestinians can accept without our help. He is much more satisfied with the status quo than with the risks of change.” He also urged Israeli protests, writing, “On the Israeli side, it must be public demonstrations and show growth as well. Outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the major squares and parks in Jerusalem and elsewhere have been the traditional places for demonstrations like this for peace and change to begin and persevere. Rabin Square in Tel Aviv would be right.”

Pickering also recommended that any U.S. involvement in his plan be hidden.

“Most of all the United States, in my view, cannot be seen to have stimulated, encouraged, or be the power behind it for reasons you will understand better than anyone,” he wrote.

It is not clear how Clinton reacted, if at all, to Pickering’s idea.