Israel-Palestine Analysis: Netanyahu Calls on Ramallah to Avoid UN, Sit Down for Negotiations

At the Israeli Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinian Authority not to pursue unilateral action in the United Nations. Netanyahu said: 

We are holding intensive contacts with the American administration in order to restart the diplomatic process.  Our goal is not just to resume the process, but to advance it in such a way that it cannot be halted in a few weeks or months, and will enter into approximately one year of continuous negotiations on the fundamental problems, in order to try and reach a framework agreement ahead of a peace settlement.

In these negotiations, we will --- of course --- uphold the vital interests of the State of Israel, with security first and foremost.  We expect the Palestinians to honor their commitment to hold direct negotiations.  I think that any attempt to bypass them by appealing to international bodies is unrealistic and will not give any impetus to a genuine diplomatic process.

Peace will only be achieved through direct negotiations and I hope that we will fully return to this track soon.

Netanyahu's bottom line: due to Israel's security interests, West Jerusalem is not going to accept the demand to extend the freeze of settlements in the West Bank for another two months. If Palestinians want to have a "genuine" peace, then they have to give up all conditions on the final status talks and sit down at the negotiation table.

Meanwhile, Palestinians discussing the approach to the UN are debating whether Ramallah can seek recognition of pre-1967 borders borders and the immediate evacuation of Jewish settlers. The latest argument came from the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Yasser Abed Rabbo: "We can’t remain committed to the agreements that were signed with Israel forever. One party can’t remain committed while the other party has violated the agreements and even canceled them."

Other Palestinian groups, especially Hamas, have dismissed Rabbo, arguing over the "illegitimacy" of agreements signed with West Jerusalem. However, the debate seems to be tangential: Israel is not taking Rabbo seriously, seeing the declaration as a "bluff." One government source said:

We hear these sorts of things now and again from the Palestinians, that Abbas will resign, they are going to dismantle the PA, that they are going to take everything to the UN, that they are going to give up on a two-state solution. But it is not serious. Everyone understands that the only way to achieve peace is through direct negotiations, everything else is not serious.