Palestinian UN Vote Was a Calamity - Adam Garfinkle (American Interest) Embedded in the UN General Assembly resolution on making Palestine an observer-status state are statements about borders and the status of Jerusalem that represent maximalist Palestinian positions. It specifies the borders of Palestine as those of the West Bank and Gaza before the June 1967 war. It also designates east Jerusalem as the capital of this state.

    This means that it will be harder for any future Palestinian leader to accept less than the UN resolution text has staked out. The same goes for Jerusalem. If these two issues are essentially taken off the table as items for discussion and compromise, it makes the ultimate prospect of a deal that much more remote.
    The simplest way to interpret PA motives here is to conclude that it isn't interested in a final peace settlement with Israel, but would rather pursue incremental tactical advances in a patient overall strategy aimed at first delegitimizing and ultimately destroying Israel. What the Palestinians have done is very likely to persuade ever more Israelis that they are not serious about peace. The writer is the editor of the American Interest.
 

Legal Implication of the UN Resolution on Palestine - Alan M. Dershowitz (Gatestone Institute) The General Assembly vote declaring that Palestine, within the pre-1967 borders, is a "state" would have nasty legal implications if it were ever to be taken seriously by the international community. It would mean that Israel is illegally occupying the Western Wall (Judaism's holiest site), the Jewish Quarter of old Jerusalem (where Jews have lived for thousands of years), the access road to the Hebrew University and other areas necessary to the security of its citizens.
    It would also mean that Security Council Resolution 242, whose purpose was to allow Israel to hold onto some of the territories captured during its defensive 1967 war, would be overruled by a General Assembly vote - something the UN Charter explicitly forbids. It would be the first time in history that a nation was required to return all land lawfully captured in a defensive war. The writer is a professor at Harvard Law School.  As per a recent UN tour, we were told that the General Assembly makes suggestions, the Security Council makes law.   

Protecting the Contiguity of Israel: The E-1 Area and the Link Between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim - Nadav Shragai (ICA-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) 

Another Map Disproving E-1 Contiguity Claims (CAMERA)
 
Hamas Tells Fatah: Let's Fight Israel Together - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)

Human Rights Watch can't decide if Iran's calls for Israel's destruction are "incitement" or "advocacy." (Honest Reporting)

Egyptian Presidential Candidates Accused of "Zionist Plot" Against State (Al Arabiya)    Three former Egyptian presidential candidates have been accused of espionage and plotting against the state, according to a complaint referred by Egypt's public prosecutor on Tuesday. Mohammed ElBaradei, Hamdein Sabahy and Amr Moussa are allegedly embroiled in a "Zionist plot" to overthrow the Islamist-led government of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm reported.

    Earlier this week, all three declared their support of the ongoing sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square until Morsi's constitutional decree is revoked. The complaint was filed by Hamed Sadek, a lawyer, claiming that the opposition leaders "secretly met Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni to drum up domestic turmoil and bring the country to its knees."