By circumventing the Israelis and going straight to the U.N., the Palestinian Authority has sought an imposed solution by a third party with no stake in the conflict. How can you proceed with the negotiation when you define boundaries, one of the major issues of the negotiation, through a third party?

The unilateral move, when it is brought to the U.N. Security Council, will face a majority of countries against it or a veto by the U.S. In any case, a formal country won’t come from the move, and then you have to ask the question: What is it good for, except damaging the peace process and a higher possibility of violence to break out? The move itself has a lot of disagreement in the Arab and the Palestinian world. The Real Partners. Real Peace. initiative is a call for, literally, “all people involved in the issue” to be involved in the issue. By circumventing the Israelis and going straight to the U.N., the Palestinian Authority has sought an imposed solution by a third party with no stake in the conflict.

Real Partners. Real Peace. does not present itself as a representative of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation; it is sounding a call for an end to unilateralism in ending the conflict. It is endemic to Hamas as an organization because Hamas’ charter calls for violent resistance, and for liberating all of Palestine, which necessitates wiping Israel off the map.

How can you negotiate with a terrorist group that calls for your distraction and because the Palestinian Authority rules the West Bank and Hamas rules Gaza, who do we talk to? Are there going to be two Palestinian states, one in the West Bank and one in Gaza?

Violence is not all equal. The Israeli Defense Forces have rules of engagement that require them to go through a series of procedures, including identifying themselves, identifying their enemy, and firing warning shots before attacking an enemy whose sole goal is to kill them. Hamas terrorists fire rockets with no navigation systems from the cowardly confines of nurseries and apartment buildings, with the sole stated goal of killing as many men, women and children working their fields, sitting in coffee shops, taking buses to the mall, as possible.

I wish there were a coalition of a pro-Palestinian organizations calling for a direct negotiation and for the revival of the peace process.

Alex Waldman, international relations junior and Grinspoon-MZ Foundation Israel Advocacy intern