In his speech Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council in New York, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presented a peace plan predicated on enlisting the international community to force Israel to capitulate to the Palestinians' demands.
Abbas' proposal consists of the U.N. accepting Palestine as a member state and convening an international peace summit, where the Palestinians and Israelis would conduct negotiations on the basis of the Arab peace initiative, which calls for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and recognition, even if just in principle, of the right of return for Palestinians refugees.
Israel, as we know, refuses to enter peace talks based on these conditions. This has always been its position. To be sure, the peace accords Israel signed with its Arab neighbors were reached through direct negotiations, with American involvement, and accounted for Israel's security needs.
Abbas arrived at the U.N. after visiting virtually every country and continent on earth in recent months. The only country he has boycotted has been the United States, and Israel is the only country with which he is unwilling to enter direct talks without preconditions.
He continues to hope and dream that someone in the world will do the Palestinians' job for them, negotiate with Israel on their behalf and force it to accept their conditions. By doing so he is squandering, yet again, a window of opportunity for the Palestinians to advance their national interests.
Abbas wants a repeat of the Palestinian victory in the U.N. from over a year ago, in December 2016, when the Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 stipulating that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are illegal. The Obama administration, it appears, provided the tailwind of support for the resolution, and by abstaining rather than vetoing it, allowed it to pass.
The Obama days, however, are long gone. The United States, not the United Nations, is the only player presently capable of promoting a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians refuse to accept this fundamental fact. They are willing to accept the generous financial aid Washington gives them, but at the same time are giving it the silent treatment, boycotting its diplomats and rejecting its efforts to foster peace. This is not how one moves toward peace!
