By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:The Palestinians are emboldened.
Since last week's UN resolution changing the status of the Palestinians to that of non-voting member, we have seen some significant changes in Palestinian diplomatic bravado.
The following was reported in the London Arabic paper, Al Sharq al Awsat: King Abdullah of Jordan came to Ramallah this week and emphasized the need to return to the negotiation table with Israel.
The paper said that Palestinian president Abbas responded by saying that several conditions must be met before he returns to the table.
And only then will he evaluate the attitude of Israel to the new situation of the Palestinians and determine whether to continue negotiations.
The first condition is that Israel recognize Palestinian state borders within the '67 borders. Next, negotiations must pick up where they broke down under former Prime Minister Olmert which was the swapping of Israeli land for 2.8% of the West Bank. And of course, all settlement activity must stop.
Setting conditions in order to start talks is inevitably an excuse to quit. The conditions are what need to be negotiated.
The Palestinians believe that they have the full commitment of 138 nations behind them. The problem is that peace needs to be negotiated with Israel - not with the 138 countries that voted for the change in Palestinian at the UN.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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