Bogie's book

A Western diplomat recently had to make a sexual joke to describe Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' demands ahead of peace negotiations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "All he wanted was a quickie, a one-night stand," he said and burst out laughing. "He wanted to have one or two encounters and then sever all ties."

Israel recognized his true intentions and convinced U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Abbas' only aim was to pull the wool over our eyes. Kerry agreed, as did several European diplomats, and now most of the pressure is directed toward Ramallah. Jerusalem is calm.

At the heart of the matter, Kerry aims to get both sides to agree to let him announce the relaunch of peace talks, which will encompass all the issues. Israel will agree, in fact it has already agreed -- in 2001. If Abbas evades talks once again, the government will celebrate its unity. If not, negotiations will begin without preconditions, but Kerry will start with pressuring Israel to freeze the construction in the settlements and to free veteran Palestinian prisoners.

In this way, Israel's demand for no preconditions will be met. This is not a typo or a double entendre -- in practice, all the prep work will have been done. Certainly on the topic of Palestinian prisoners, which Abbas needs so badly and Israel doesn't really care about.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon are the pair currently filling the role of the previous government's "forum of six." They don't believe in the Palestinians' willingness to make peace, but they are going by the book. According to Ya'alon's book, bloodshed can be prevented with the right crisis management and not necessarily with a peace agreement.

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