This is a common misconception in the rush to put them onto an oppressed vs oppressed scenario to fit into a simplistic leftist view of the world, they seem helpless by the west. If they were so helpless they would do a deal but they have rarely negotiated and not really with any seriousness since clinton was around. They want everything more than what even most of the liberal moderate israeli is willing to conceed.
For the most part they are propped up by eu money. There existance in aparthied is a rallying point for most arabs and they are winning the propoganda war. As Kerry said, quite unusually for a politician locked to election cycles Israel is on borrowed time as a democracy the palestinians are out breeding them inside israel and palestine.
Many issues drive the west's policy toward Israel, guilt is part of it. We think we should punish ourselves for the mistreatment that bygone generations meted out...
As the French have felt guilt toward their African colonies, white Australia toward the Aborigines, the English for Asia, and on and on. We are supposed to feel guilt for the holocaust, this is the underlying thread... This perceived guilt clearly gives Israel preferential treatment regarding the way they address their foreign policy. It doesn't matter who the other side is.
I can't imagine on what grounds the international community accepts their hazy maybe/maybe not acknowledgement of their nuclear capability, and the issue of settlements is pretty clear cut legally.
The settlements would be outrageous if someone else was doing it... If there is disagreement it would be usual to defer building until it is sorted out... instead they make facts on the ground that just become part of Israel's claim that seem to just get bigger and bigger. So of course the other side are not happy.
Israel demands they acknowledge the Jewish homeland's legitimacy, and the Palestinians want the settling to stop. So who has the stronger claim?
To me it is obvious that they both need to do what the other wants. It won't happen any other way... Israel is attempting to deceive by stating the contrary.
This was on the cards anyway. America's abstention just clarified the common view. I made the point months ago that the majority of the Arab world is drawing closer to Israel in alliance against the more hostile Islamic states. America has left large parts of the ME hanging, so they find security this way... they don't all hate each others guts.
I'm presuming Obama had this planned... wasn't he under pressure to demilitarize? (Yeah he was.. and he has)...Can't have your cake and eat it. I wait eagerly to see what trump does... but if anything is to happen it will require bigly military commitment. Will this be popular? I doubt it. Is he just full of hot air? Maybe.
(And as for the $38 billion... crack the shits at an abstention, but the outrageous amount of money for defense is what... A birthright?)