Last week's attempt by the Palestinian Authority to obtain recognition from the United Nations Security Council has mostly disappeared from the world's front pages. That is not true in Israel, though, where a new diplomatic war with the Palestinians is just taking shape.
As soon as the Palestinians lost the vote in the U.N., Mahmoud Abbas announced that the Palestinian Authority would seek admission to the International Criminal Court. If granted, the authority could then use that position to urge prosecution of Israeli soldiers for war crimes during the Gaza War.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded equally pugnaciously. While insisting that he will not "punish" the Palestinians by building in settlements (a move he knows would be toxic to the international community), the prime minister has said Israel will ask Congress to cut off the flow of the $400 million in annual aid that the Palestinians receive from the U.S. He has also said that Israel will not transfer the tax revenue it has collected on the Palestinian Authority's behalf. Other measures, he has pledged, are forthcoming.