The US and Israel made a huge mistake voting against the Palestinian's bid for Observer State status in the UN. Fist of all it was the president of the PLO/PNA/Fatah Mahmoud Abbas that was at the UN, not the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyah. It was the PLO/PNA/Fatah that the US and Israel have been working with for decades to find a solution to Israeli/Palestinian conflict, not Hamas whom we've considered a terrorist group. I think everybody but Hamas was disappointed when they won the 2006 Palestinian elections effectively splitting the Gaza Palestinians from the West Bank Palestinians.
If the US and Israel would have been smart, they would have sided with Abbas in the UN. Since the observer status is largely ceremonial, we could have delegitimize Hamas by reaffirming Abbas as the man who can negotiate with the world. Moreover we could bought some free good will with the Palestinian people. What did we do instead? We voted no, pushing the Palestinians further away from us, giving Hamas more legitimacy and then Israel capped the nightmare response off by approving more settlements. Way to go guys. If it wasn't clear before, which it has been to the Palestinians, the current administrations in the US and Israel are not really serious about effectively addressing the issue.
Disclaimer: I'm not against the state of Israel, I think they should exist. Push comes to shove I would side with Israel. But you have to agree that the Palestinians have been subjected to some nasty treatment over the years.
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