Obama urges Abbas to back off UN bid for non-member observer state status

who gives the money to UNRWA ? hmmm let me guess. Palestine = home for refugees = end of UNRWA.

Because it's obviously in Abbas' interests to just sit back and do nothing while Bibi 'n' Barak keep approving more and more settlement construction....

They have ALREADY waited 4 years on Obama to do the right thing. Obama has NEVER prevented Israel from building Settlements; he even protected Settlements with a US veto in the UN Security Council, yet he persists in demanding that Palestinians must not move forward with alternative efforts at the UN to stop Settlement construction. The JOKE is that Israel agreed to stop Settlement construction AND demolish illegal outposts when it signed the Road Map Agreement over 10 years ago. By the Road Map, all of that HAS to happen BEFORE negotiations begin for core issues and final status. If Israel had done what it agreed to do, NONE of this would be necessary. Meanwhile, Obama has crippled the Quartet to prevent it from implementing the agenda for peace it was formed to pursue. Obama we voted for you. Please DO NOT fail us again.

Obama's actions as usual make it impossible to know who is in the White House. Is it Bush or Romney----who the hell won the election? I am not holding my breadth believing Obama will at some point in time act to fulfill the will of the American people.

All Israel wantsi is Arab land and they continue to steal it. Obvious? Now they threaten to hold back their tax money to further their suffering and humiliation. How does Israel get away with this? America is waking up to these actons and the people are aganst Israel.

Negotiations are just a ploy to give Israel more time to expand the illegal settlements. Palestine should reject any plea for her plan at UN. It's time to reject Israeli aggression and violation of international law.

Abbas must go to Saudi and Egypt and ask for their backing for a plan that legitimizes the Jewish State within the Green Line. Can they actually do that politically even if they wanted to?

Abbas almost has to push forward with the UN bid or his own people will assassinate him. Israel should be very cautous when dealing with Obama. At least with Abbas you know what you're dealing with, but with Obama you get the feeling he's the devil you don't know so well. No two state compromise!!! Plus, Jerusalem is the Jewish capital...period.

now Abbas can do his thing.

how about immediate discussions to foresee the extent the Israeli government is willing to negotiate for peace agreement, at least the core issue of borders betweem the two states - this really was a Quartet request from last year.

To get a permanent observer status is the least you can ask for. The world has to progress, otherwise the Palestinians will be an occupied people also for the next fifty years. Colonialism must not have a future.

What is Israel so afraid of?

What they want to keep alive is the hope that the UN will deliver them 2 Palestinian states and no Jewish Israel. Fat chance. Palestinians and their supporters are delusional. That's why they have gotten nowhere for over 60 years.

And the American objection seems to be almost polite this time, as if paying lip-service. What's up?

I think he called and said, What's your price? And if Abbas is clever enough he would have said: I want 300,000 work permits for Palestinians inside the greenline. (2) The right for Palestinian laborers to live within the greenline during the work week. (3) Access for Palestinians to all roads and the Jordan valley. (4) Destruction of the outposts and pulling their denizens to behind the green line. (5) Cessation of all illegal construction. And if Obama said yes to all the above, the Palestinians should withdraw their UN initiative and concentrate instead on infiltrating Israel.

Or did he simply threaten Abbas with the sort of reprisals that he would never dare to wave in front of Netanyahu.

My biggest fear for the Palestinian cause (which I have often expressed on this forum, drawing many thumbs-down from other talkbackers) is not Israel and the US but the Palestinian leaders. They are corrupt, compliant, and desperate to keep office. If Abbas backs down this time, and the Palestinians don't throw him out along with his cohorts in the PLO and PA, then I for one will be willing to concede that Jews have earned their right to the whole of Palestine

Israel and the US are desperate because they know practically the whole world is against them. Show them who's boss at the UN and embarrass them in front of the world. Then maybe they will learn their lesson!

If Obama was the Palestinian president he would have one to UN to get recognition of Palestinian rights as people under occupation . If this fails , the authority should be dissolved and the occupied territories should be administered by Israel as before 1993

-Negotiations between Israel and ICC are a good idea. -Abbas: PA to ask UN to debunk settlements' status - Palestinian president says that while PA doesn’t seek to 'discredit Israel's legitimacy' it must seek international intervention to delegitimize settlements - Elior Levy

A new look second term obama

ASAP they are getting minimized as we speak

What are you going to do Mister Obama ? bomb the WB, punish the palestinians, sanction them, send F15 to the israelis to reassure them, milk the cow even more? this is pathetic. Those who need to be 'urged' are the israelis...but you know that already !!!! can you do anything to protect the palestinians ???

what did the freshly reelected president offer to the Palestinians to refrain from persueing their rights?

is a snake. Israel can't you see their game ? Both Hamas & Abbas regime are one & the same thing.Israel is in the middle:as a sandwich> They will bite from both ends when they think the time is ripe. Israel.! Don't be foolish enough to make an accommodation with only one side while leaving the other wound to pester on Israel's shores. They are very cunning & slimy. Be careful !