Abbas To UN: "End This Settlement Occupation"

"A wide gulf divides the speaker who on Friday said Palestinians 'will not forget or forgive and won't let war criminals go unpunished' and the one who in 2010 blocked the passage of the Goldstone report -- which investigated allegations of war crimes committed by Israel and the Palestinians during 'Operation Cast Lead' -- to the hands of the UN Security Council."

The next two years are crucial. President Obama may be the last American president in the next decade, in either party, with the experience and the moxie to force a right wing government of Israel to recognize that the ICC is a legal body with the power to wound wrong-doers.

A legal body, that is, that is not subservient to the Israel Lobby. That Lobby, of course, will continue to throw road blocks in the path Palestine takes to the ICC. For a detailed study of that process and the chances of a successful landing by Palestine vs. Israel in the ICC, see this Link essay by John B. Quigley.

The journey to the ICC is complicated, as are all things in the Middle East. But making the journey at a time of Palestine's choosing should keep Israel from an early return to periodically "mowing the grass," in Gaza, as Israelis have obscenely described these invasions.

Only the dumbest politicians keep committing their crimes with a set of indictments hanging over their collective heads. Play that ICC card, President Abbas, at a time of your own choosing.