"We will go to the United Nations (to request the recognition of Palestine as a state) and then we will return to talks," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early this month.
But he is actually going to the U.N. because there are no peace talks, and there is little likelihood of them even if he doesn't go. He has to give Palestinians some sign of progress, even if it is a purely symbolic U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state.
The Israelis have already lined up the United States to veto it. The U.S. Congress has loyally threatened to cut all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if the statehood project goes ahead. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has even warned that Israel might withdraw from the Oslo accords, the foundation of Middle Eastern peace talks for the past two decades.