http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/benjamin-netanyahu-settlement-freeze_n_982921.html

I just feel hopeless that there will ever be peaceful co-existence in this land.

Why does the US insist that the Palestinian issue must not be resolved in the UN? 

Thanks Shaun and Amna for your time and contributions. 

@shaun: yes of course you're right. on the stage of international politics we are obliged to take democratic governments as a perfect reflection of the huge collection of people they are supposed to represent, otherwise no peace treaties could ever be signed and nothing would get done.

not arguing that point i still think it's worthwhile to focus on the political stress lines within israel in order to imagine where future peace deals may originate from. this idea links into the question you understandably pose, amna, concerning whether peace will ever be possible. i believe it will. hope lies in the cracks - on both sides! after all, if Israel as a signifier only links to the signified of 'bellicose land grabber', well, it's difficult to see the point of any negotiations.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,788835,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,787889,00.html

No, it is not true that the US and Israel are the only nations "who see eye to eye" on this issue.

"It's the latest example of how EU coherence is being sacrificed to national interests. Already hardly anyone expects the EU to present a unified vote if the Palestinian status comes before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Meanwhile the four countries currently sitting on the UN Security Council -- Britain, France, Germay and Portugal -- are also unlikely to agree on a single stance."

UN votes will not do much to change the facts on the ground.  Just as in South  Africa, the parties themselves must arrive at a solution eventually.

You're right Translator, of course it's up to Israel and Palestine to sort this out. But it's kind of hard for any meaningful negotiation to take place when the Israeli government knows it can act the maggot (ah, idiomatic...meaning it knows it can act in a naughty way) and rely on the us veto to protect it from any kind of international sanctions.

and it's not just the US government of course. but they are the teacher in the schoolyard watching the bully smack the little kid around and doing precisely nothing about it.

p.s. i don't hate the USA! the wire! the wire!!!!! only the US could write, produce and film the wire! 

If the EU had a more unified foreign policy position on this issue, the US might  be forced  to adjust  its position somewhat.  In addition, I doubt that the US exerts any significant pressure on China or Russia on this particular issue.

The dirty, open "secret" about this situation is that very few countries back the Palestinian quest for statehood, even amongst the Arab nations. But it is very convenient for them to point the finger at others.  

I do not agree with most aspects of US mid-east policy. It would help if the Palestinians developed a coalition provisional government.  

Rabbi Kahane was one such loonie as is Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.  The President with his sex scandal.  I guess they (Israelis) are just like the rest of us and have a range of politicians though certainly what I read from Jewish commentators in Israel suggest an increasing right wing swing, rich-poor divide and authoritarianism.

So we all have skeletons in the closet but shouldn't hide them or pretend they don't exist and make silly racist remarks about other cultures/countries/ethnicities.

And who does the impotent Middle East Quartet comprise: US, EU, Russia and the UN.

Shaun:

Haaretz is a well established and well respected daily newspaper in Israel. It's consider high quality and non sensational. It's not as popular as the tabloids tho. I don't know its market share, but I would bet its not high. Sort of like Le Temps in Geneva. 

Nir