By presenting strategically calculated messages for all relevant audiences, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas used yesterday's speech to outline the identity of the new Palestinian state he is to seek at the UN. This post has been updated, 19 September, 2011 When Palestinian President and Chairman of PLO Mahmoud Abbas ended his speech on Friday to an audience of Palestinian dignitaries by stating that he was going to the present the Palestinian statehood bid to the United Nations Security Council, he received a heartfelt standing ovation. Yet going to the UNSC might be the biggest gambit yet in the whole diplomatic game…

The latest U.S. veto - the first of the Obama administration - proves that the U.S. is incapable of bringing peace to this region They’re not “illegal”. They’re “illegitimate”. That’s the excuse that the world’s most powerful nation, a beacon of freedom and democracy, came up with to explain why it vetoed a UNSC resolution calling Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. That’s the best they had. All the President’s men, all the President’s speech writers, all the President’s media strategists - they all worked for days on end on that one. And that’s the ingenious combination of letters…

Following the United States' veto of a United Nation Security Council resolution condemning Israel's settlement activities By Jerry Haber Thank you, Mr. President, for vetoing the UN Security Counsel Resolution condemning the Israeli settlements as illegal. Thank you for making America the only country in the world to support Israel on this matter. Thank you for contradicting long-standing US policy on the settlements. Thank you for not abstaining on this vote – which is what the US has done in the past. Thank you for talking the talk on settlements but not walking the walk. Thank you for allowing Israel to…