I believe Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abba, is taking the right steps by formally seeking membership for a state of Palestine from the United Nations Security Council. Continually sourcing the pre-1967 borders of the UN mandate is not relevant today. Palestine realizes it must present itself as a legitimate entity to the international community in order to obtain its sovereignty. I believe they are taking the right steps by seeking membership from the UN and not negotiating with Israel and the United States. The US and Israel use their strength to push the terms of negotiation in their favor. Palestine will have a much more favorable outcome if it involves the entire international community. This will allow for more transparency in negotiations and less back door deals cut between allies of either Palestine or Israel.
As for Jerusalem being the capital of either state...I do not believe Jerusalem should be the capital of either state. I believe the city should be owned by no country and should be an international city. The residents of Jerusalem can choose either to be a Israeli or Palestinian resident for their citizenship and pay into that state. As for running and retaining the city of Jerusalem, a body will be elected democratically to run the city and the people who do live in the area of Jerusalem will not only pay into the state they live in, but will also pay a residential tax for living in the city of Jerusalem.
I agree with you that Mahmoud Abbas is taking a step in the right direction by seeking membership for the state of Palestine with the United Nations. Negotiations between Israel and Palestine haven't worked in the past and aren't working now to resolve the conflict!
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