Palestinian leadership has always taken the same single minded approach into negotiating a peace agreement with Israel. They have always been willing to reach a compromise as long as all of their demands are met. Combining violence and diplomacy they have reached some degree of success with this strategy until this year.
The war in Gaza has acted as a deterrent to rocket attacks. The rockets have not completly stopped but it his reduced it to a minimum. Israel returns fire for every attack creating a tangible cause and effect. A new Israeli Government is now in power with a mandate to protect Israel's interests even if it makes the Palestinians unhappy. Economic conditions have improved in the West Bank as security check points have been removed. All of these developments have forced the Palestinians to have to agree to compromise if they want to move forward plus demonstrate the rewards for living peacefully.
The Palestinians beleived that Barak Obama could dictate Israeli policy. They were so convinced that Obama's declaration that settlements must stop would come to fruition, they made it a condition of bargaining with Israel. Israel responded with a definite no, leaving the Palestinians with the option to back down or put more pressure on Israel. The Palestinian Authority has lost support at home by botching the handling of the Goldstone Report. First they postponed it's review by the UNHRC followed by demanding the UNHRC hold an emergency session to have it passed. They have admitted to not having time to read the report plus they cannot follow up any allegations with the International Criminal Court because they have no evidence outside of the report. Judge Goldstone has admitted that the report does not meet the burden of proof for a criminal trial.
Since Hillary Clinton declared that they are satisfied with the compromise over Israeli settlements, the Palestinian leadership has been playing all kinds of political games to gain world sympathy. Elections have been called for January. Unsurprisingly Hamas has rejected the plan sighting the fact that Abbas should have already faced an election when his Presidential term expired. Abbas has threated not to run in the election. He has taken his threats as far as resigning from all of his positions within the Palestinian leadership and dismantling the Palestinian Authority in the process. He has promissed violence will be result of the leadership vacum. Chief Palestinian negotiaitor Saeb Erekat has come out and said that they are trying to gain support at the United Nations to have a Palestinian State recognized with 1967 borders.
The current strategy is to create absolute chaos. The United States and Israel will bend over backwards to make concessions to prevent them from happening. A Palestinian State as has been proposed this far would be suicide for Israel. Palestinians are not even willing to entertain the possibility of logical land swaps that would create a practical border for both sides. That is probably one of the simplest areas to work out. The only strategy that will work is the one they have been pretending to subscribe to. They must be willing to compromise with a solution that takes Israeli interests into consideration. Until that time the silly games will continue with no results.
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