If there is indeed a deal in the works to postpone a US-Palestinian showdown on statehood, the two leaders will get to hash it out in person. President Obama will meet Mahmoud Abbas at the UN tomorrow, the AP reports. Obama will meet separately with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, sources tell Haaretz that votes on statehood in the Security Council and General Assembly are likely to be postponed for weeks or longer, presumably so negotiators can resume peace talks.
The UN developments come as Israel turned into a campaign issue. “We would not be here today at the very precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama policy in the Middle East wasn’t naive, arrogant, misguided and dangerous,” said Rick Perry in a New York speech, according to the Washington Post. Among other things, he blasted Obama's previous suggestion that Israel's 1967 borders be a starting point in peace talks as "insulting and naive." (Politico has a related analysis here.) Before Perry spoke, Mitt Romney weighed in with a statement declaring that “what we are watching unfold at the United Nations is an unmitigated diplomatic disaster." He again accused Obama of throwing "Israel under the bus." (More President Obama stories.)
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