French and American diplomats have spent the last week negotiating with the Palestinian Authority over a Security Council resolution calling for the creation of a Palestinian state within two years. France and the U.S. have pressed for reasonable, fair, amendments to the original version of the proposed resolution. But, argues Jonathan Tobin, no amendment will make this resolution a good idea; the U.S. is best off vetoing it:
[E]ven if the draft produced by the French and the Obama administration were to include language about mutual recognition of “Palestine” and a specifically Jewish state of Israel and stating that a withdrawal from the West Bank and Jerusalem would have to be preceded by talks between the parties, that wouldn’t motivate the Palestinians to negotiate peace. Indeed, once they have the force of a UN resolution mandating Israel’s complete withdrawal from the territories, they would be officially absolved of any need to talk. They would then merely sit back and wait until the two-year deadline expired and then demand, with the support of the rest of a world that is irredeemably hostile to Israel, a complete Israeli withdrawal from all of the land including Jerusalem without paying for any of it in terms of mutual recognition, security guarantees, or any real assurance that they are prepared to end the conflict.
Read more on Commentary: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/16/writing-a-better-un-resolution-wont-work-palestinians-israel-security-council/