One may start from the safe assumption that this Netanyahu government is not capable of progressing in any significant way towards a peace agreement. The inevitable result is that the Palestinians must do whatever they can to topple the Netanyahu government so that it is replaced by a more peace-oriented one. Since Abbas and the Arab League apparently believe in Obama's sincerity, they also believe that once Obama realizes that what they see in Netanyahu (i.e., a void) is correct, Obama will join them in their goal to topple the Netanyahu government. This is reasonable, and it has a historical precedent. Jim Baker got tired of the Shamir government lying ways and absolute determination to hold on to the West Bank, so it criticized it in public and punished Israel financially, which resulted in the Israeli public replacing Shamir with Rabin in the following elections. It is a reasonable approach which may work even faster this time. It is likely that with no real progress towards peace, the Labor party will quit the government, making it even more hardline and more resistant to any concession. For this strategy to work, Abbas should attempt to make sure Labor has no excuse to remain in the government. Let him extract from Netanyahu the best possible "good will gestures", go to direct talks, then suspend them when Israel declines to extend the freeze over settlement construction.The snowball will start rolling after the US Congressional elections this November, and will gain speed when Labor gives up on Netanyahu.