Not talking seems even less likely to produce anything positive.

The goal is photo ops and fig leaves and excuses to (a) shift blame to the Palestinians so that (b) Europe and the US can avoid dealing with I/P in a serious and honest manner.

The Israeli government is both unwilling and incapable of negotiating. What are they going to talk about, the weather?

How would you advise the leaders of the US and European countries?

Also, refer Israel's state-sponsored theft of land and natural resources to the ICC, in addition to their more obvious war crimes.

And, yes, prosecute any and all Palestinians who are guilty as well.

And sanction Israel for its anti-peace settlement activities.

It proposes a solution along the lines of the Geneva Initiative that I have been promoting on DU for years.

If the US isn't in able/willing to lead on I/P, at the very least it should get out of the way and stop being part of the problem.

So would you say then that Europe is in fact serious and honest?

If the resolution gets passed, then this gambit is more defensible. Not before then.

There are other avenues Palestine can take - and is taking - that on't waste time with a violent and repressive government that has stated it has no intention of allowing Palestine to ever exist.

At this point, the only point of "peace talks" is to say "look, we're having peace talks!" and use that to try to pressure Palestine from seeking better alternatives.

You've made it obvious you want something else, but you haven't made it clear just what that is.

...with the fig leaf option anymore Scoot .

It's not like Abbas is even trying to hide it anymore.

regime in Jerusalem that's run by fascists and religious fanatics every bit as savage and extreme as Hamas.

They would just prefer to not do anything about it.

At some point, the annexation will be fait accompli and then BDS will be the global rule for the apartheid regime.

Only a fanatic idiot would swallow that insane propaganda line.

whose members--such as Ayelet "Dont' Call me Palin" Shaked and Eli Ben-Davan--plagiarized Der Sturmer when talking about Arabs has any intent of negotiating in good faith, especially when they've announced their intent to pursue apartheid.

There's better prospect in cutting a GLBT rights treaty with Vladimir Putin than there is in getting the theocratic racial supremacists in Jerusalem to negotiate in good faith.

until the swap issue is resolved. Personally, I don't think any swaps are necessary, or even possible. I think Palestine should tell the settlers to decolonize and leave. I also think that any Palestinian who come from a family that was displaced should be allowed to return to where they came from.

I'm all for peace talks, as long as the ICC can continue its work with investigating Israeli war crimes and declaring the settlements illegal, which also should part of any framework for peace talks.

In a normal world, these would be very reasonable demands.