We have been skeptical and critical of Israel's stated position of coming to a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Our skepticism begins with the belief that there is no one on the Palestinian side who can reach an agreement and impose it on his people. Abbas speaks only for his isolated inner circle. And Hamas refuses to recognize the State of Israel.

But let's pretend that Israel has a serious negotiating partner. To please the Obama Administration, Israel keeps declaring that it wants to begin negotiations immediately without preconditions. Our question is: Shouldn't Israel have preconditions on the table before entering any negotiations?

In our view, Israel should be insisting that anyone it negotiates with recognizes the Jewish State of Israel, drops any demands based on the so-called "right of return", recognizes Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, and agrees with the United Nations that the future of land captured during the Six Day War will be negotiated between Israel and its negotiating partner.

Israel should put an end to the charade that everything is negotiable. The sooner Israel makes that clear the sooner reality will enter the stalled negotiating process.

The latest, Israeli official to declare that there are no preconditions for talks is Foreign Minister Lieberman.  He also slammed the Palestinian leadership for demanding more Israeli concessions before returning to the negotiations table.