[But in a letter sent this week to European ambassadors in Israel by the far-left Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, influential Israelis, among them a Nobel laureate and an Israel Prize winner, as well as the former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and Israel's former ambassador to South Africa, expressed their support for a Palestinian bid.

They said: "As Israeli citizens, we announce that if and when the Palestinian people declare independence of a sovereign state that will exist next to Israel in peace and security, we will support such announcement of the Palestinian state, with borders based on the 1967 lines, with needed land swaps."]

The Palestinian leaders have to say it face to face and renounce terrorism like they mean it. How many times have we been down this road before? This letter has the tone of someone dwelling on how he's going to spend his grand prize sweepstakes winnings before the winning ticket is drawn. Wishful thinking doesn't make it happen.