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Netanyahu plays on US partisan politics

The Palestinians should suggest a diplomatic initiative that is hard to refuse, instead of a one-sided Palestinian overture to the UN, just as the Republicans and Democrats should show unity condemning the Israeli occupation so that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not play on this seeming divide.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and ministers of the unity government, in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 2, 2014. Abbas swore in a Palestinian unity government on Monday under a reconciliation deal with Hamas Islamists that led Israel to freeze U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Western-backed leader. REUTERS/Majdi Mohammed/Pool (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RU64
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On Dec. 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his displeasure with the Palestinian leadership’s decision to ask that the UN Security Council instruct Israel to end its occupation of the territories within two years. He lashed out at the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) threat that it would apply to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Upon emerging from his Rome meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, at which he demanded that the United States exercise its veto power over such a Security Council resolution, Netanyahu warned that Israel would not ignore such unilateral Palestinian moves. In a phone conversation with French President Francois Hollande, Netanyahu argued that going to the UN was “the opposite of a peace agreement,” adding that such a move “would cancel any future negotiations and result in deterioration.”

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