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Mahmoud Abbas Is Again Insisting on Failure
(Washington Post) Editorial - In a meeting with President Obama last March, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to accept a U.S.-brokered "framework" for the creation of a Palestinian state. Instead, Abbas is now pushing yet another quixotic attempt to have the UN Security Council impose Palestinian terms for a settlement on Israel. Over the weekend, the language of the Palestinian resolution was toughened so that Jerusalem is mentioned only as the Palestinian capital. This text has no chance of being approved, yet Abbas appears to insist on failing. Some diplomats suspect Abbas wants his maximalist resolution to be voted down to obtain a pretext to move on to his next pointless initiative - seeking Palestinian membership in the International Criminal Court. Accession to the court wouldn't bring Palestinians any closer to statehood, and it might expose the Hamas movement to war crimes prosecution. It could also cause Congress to cut off the U.S. aid that now sustains the Palestinian Authority.