Madam, – I am surprised at the decision of the Israeli government to launch a major diplomatic initiative to persuade Ireland amongst others against supporting a proposal which may be brought to the United Nations in September to upgrade the status of Palestine from “Observer Entity” to that of Member State (World News, June 13th).
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his foreign minister know that if Israel agrees to re-enter serious, time-limited negotiations with President Abbas on final status issues such as borders before this matter comes up in the United Nations that the Palestinians will postpone their UN proposal. They are aware of this, as it has been stated publicly by President Abbas on at least two occasions. In other words the Israeli government would restore its credibility and achieve its objective of deferring the Palestinian proposal if it enters final status negotiations without further delay, as President Obama and the European Union have urged.
Why is the Israeli government not taking this obvious step to bring this appalling conflict to a definitive end? – Yours, etc,