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Palestinians Looking to Circumvent Negotiations with Israel
(Algemeiner) Daniel S. Mariaschin - Over the past few months, a perfect storm of bias has come about: from the "recognition" of a Palestinian state by a growing number of European parliaments, to the convening of the signatories to the Geneva Convention to condemn Israel's acting in self-defense during this summer's Gaza conflict, to the current attempt to impose a date and time certain for creation of a Palestinian state in the UN Security Council. In some instances, there are winks and nods to the need for negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue. But these efforts are lame attempts to be politically correct. Mahmoud Abbas has a playbook whose objective is to win not by negotiating in good faith, but by simply running out the clock. Other pages from Abbas' book include frightening the international community into believing that only continued pressure on Israel without PA concessions will deliver an independent Palestinian state for the Palestinians. The Palestinians agreed during the Oslo process to negotiate. What makes it right to negate that obligation now? One would hope that the international diplomats dealing with this situation would understand that imposing a "solution" by excluding Israelis and a real negotiating process will lead absolutely nowhere. If these folks really care about an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they'd spend their time pressing the Palestinians to get serious, go to the table and work out a deal. The writer is Executive Vice President of B'nai B'rith International.