Seven years after they insanely launched a literal suicide war against Israel and four years after it became clear that they couldn't win it, the Palestinians are demanding everything. This morning it's the Temple Mount:

Despite attempts by Israel to avoid discussing final-status issues in the media, senior PA officials also told Haaretz that the idea the Temple Mount would not be in Palestinian hands was "inconceivable." "No Palestinian leader would agree to this, certainly not Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas]," a PA official said. "No Arab country would agree for a final-status arrangement in which the Temple Mount was not in Muslim hands, particularly not Saudi Arabia." Another Palestinian official told Haaretz that "the Israeli public still doesn't understand how important the issue of Al-Aqsa is," referring to the mosque on the Temple Mount. He added that the issue was a deal-breaker for the Palestinian public.

Given the fantastic job that the Palestinians are doing up there, we can't think of any reason why the Israeli public would be reluctant to hand over full control. Except for their inherent and irrational racism and misunderstanding of the Palestinians, of course. That's obviously what's going on. Speaking of misunderstandings between the Israelis and the Palestinians, here's your Monday morning false hope:

Rice is on a four-day shuttle mission, trying to create some common ground ahead of the meeting. A State Department official hinted on Sunday that the conference, expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in late November, might be postponed because of the gaps between the two sides. Abbas aides said they were concerned that Rice cautioned over the weekend against expecting breakthroughs during her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. She also plans a trip to Cairo and talks in London with King Abdullah II of Jordan. "With her statement yesterday, Dr. Rice reduced the Palestinian hopes for the conference," said Nabil Amr, an Abbas adviser. "We didn't expect her to come with this direction. The US is a party to this conference, and we expect it to exert efforts to make it succeed."

There must be an equation out there somewhere that describes the inverse relationship between the spectacular lack of Palestinian successes and the surreal sense of Palestinian entitlement. Surely some social scientist somewhere has done this work, yes?

References:
* Abbas: "If You Don't Give Me Everything I Won't Accept Anything" [MR]
* PA to pressure U.S. to support freeze on settlement building [Ha'aretz]
* Photos Of Israeli Police Trying And Failing To Stop Temple Mount Destruction [MR]
* Abbas tells Rice ME parley expectations [JPost]

Previously:
* State Department, UN Make Things Up To Coerce Israeli Concessions, Scapegoat Israel When Plans Fail (Plus: Hezbollah Now Openly Bragging About Using Civilian Human Shields)
* State Department Kills Congressional Instructions, Figures Out Way To Fund Hamas [Video]
* Palestinians Demand Concessions, Fire Rockets At Israeli Schools And Hospitals. Again.