In case it wasn’t obvious already, the Palestinians are frantic as they furiously throw out preconditions in hope of avoiding the dreaded direct negotiations. This report explains:

Direct talks will not be resumed with Israel until progress is made during US-brokered proximity talks on the issues of borders and security, President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday evening. “We hope to make progress that will enable us to launch serious negotiations leading to a two-state solution before it is too late,” Abbas said during a celebration at the the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, marking the Prophet Mohammad’s Night Journey. …

“We chose to start with borders and security. We proposed our vision and said that if progress can be made, we move to direct negotiations. However, if there will be no progress on these two issues, these negotiations will be a waste of time,” Abbas said.

I think that means: “Unless Obama delivers everything we want in proximity talks, we’re not showing up for negotiations, which are really only a formality.” This was the problem from the get-go, which Obama and his brain trust tried to ignore by allowing the Palestinians to avoid face-to-face negotiations. Obama is in a bind now — he’s said publicly that the Palestinians need to move to direct talks, but the Palestinians have no such intention. Despite Obama’s grand intentions and his narcissistic assumption that he, unlike every president who preceded him, could bring about peace in the Middle East, he now stands on the brink of failure on a foreign-policy objective that he elevated to the top tier of his concerns. Having given it such prominence, the collapse of his Middle East policy will be all the more damaging to his already shrinking stature.