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Obama Shouldn't Tie His Successor's Hands on Israel-Palestinians
(Boston Globe) Alan M. Dershowitz - The Obama administration is sending strong signals that it may make a major push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the UN. President Obama should resist any temptation to change longstanding American policy - that only direct negotiations between the parties will achieve a lasting peace - during his final weeks in office. In particular, Obama should veto an expected French resolution in the UN Security Council establishing an international peace conference under the auspices of the UN. The UN has disqualified itself from playing any constructive role in the peace process. Last year alone, at least 20 separate resolutions were adopted by the UN General Assembly, which singled out Israel for special criticism. The UN has done nothing to reassure Israel that the organization is capable of offering an unbiased forum for negotiations. In light of such behavior, the U.S. should not trust that Israel would receive a fair hearing at any UN-sponsored peace conference. The only way forward for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is bilateral negotiations between the two parties. Resolutions like the proposed French resolution undermine such efforts by encouraging the Palestinians to believe that direct negotiations - and the mutual sacrifices they would entail - are unnecessary. The writer is professor emeritus of law at Harvard University.