Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in his speech at the UN General Assembly, Sept.23, 2011:
“I came here to speak the truth. The truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace. The truth is that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, but they want a state without peace, and the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen,” he said. “The Palestinian should first make peace with Israel and then get their state. After peace is signed, Israel won’t be the last country to accept a Palestinian state – we will be the first.”
This is the core of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians' pre- conditions to negotiate makes the negotiations unnecessary for them since they get all they want:
The 1967 borders
The freeze of settlement building
These are Israel's bargaining cards and they try to strip Israel of its bargaining cards.
The Palestinians are not interested in making peace with Israel because it means giving up their demand to settle the Palestinian refugees in Israel, thus turning the Jews into a minority and putting an end to the Jewish state.
This is the reason why Abu Mazen keeps declaring he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Such a recognition means giving up this demand.
The Palestinians want a state without peace with Israel so that that can continue to demand to settle the refugees in Israel and not in the Palestinian state.
The Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon was interviewed a few days ago by the Lebanese "Daily Star":
Palestinian Arab “refugees” wouldn’t be citizens of “Palestine” – even if they live there!
Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon.
From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star Wednesday about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.
The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”
This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”
This is the truth about the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.

They have so far rejected 6 proposals to make peace with Israel and get a state"
1936/7 – under British Mandate rule, the Peel Commission proposed to put an end to the conflict began after the League of Nations recognized Palestine as the national home of the Jews, by dividing the country into 2 states.
1947 – the United Nation's Resolution called to end the conflict by creating 2 states: a Jewish state and an Arab state.
1948 – 1967 – the Palestinians were under Arab rule but never demanded a state. They sent terrorists to kill Israeli civilians.
1967 –the 6 days war: Israel was attacked by Arab states for the second time since 1948, with the intention to destroy Israel. Israel won the war and conquered the Western Bank and Gaza Strip. After the war Israel proposed "LAND FOR PEACE."
2000 – Arafat's response to the Clinton – Barak proposal at Camp David, was the Intifada .
2008/9 – the Ulmert proposal to Abu Mazen. Abu Mazen told a Washington Post reporter it was better than the 2000 proposal, but he did not say "yes."

All these proposals were rejected by the Palestinians.
Why? because they included peace with Israel.
A. before 1967 there were no settlements
B. the peace proposals in 2000 and 2008/9 included a fair solution to the settlement issue and the settlement of refugees in the Palestinian state, as an international project.

And now: Abu Mazen refuses to negotiate, although Israel agreed to freeze settlement building for 9 months. Abu Mazen waited until the last month and then demanded 3 more to negotiate, but kept insisting on the pre- conditions..

Why?
They want a state without peace. After getting a state the Palestinian state will demand the settling the refugees in Israel.

The Palestinians refuse to recognize the right of Jews for self- determination. They say Jews are not a nation but a religion and religions have no right of self- determination. Also, they deny any historical connection of Jews to the land of Israel, claiming the Jews are European Colonialists who stole Palestinian land.

These views are an effort to rewrite history for political interests.

Palestine was under different foreign occupations since the Jews became a minority as a result of the Roman Empire's policy of Hellenistic colonization, confiscation OF Jewish farms and cruel crushing of Jewish revolts..

Most Palestinians are descendants of immigrant workers who migrated to the land of Israel under Ottoman occupation and British Mandate from Arab and Muslim states, between the middle of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century. The British Mandate census of 1931 proved that the Palestinians came from 32 Arab and Muslim countries.

P.S: this article did not include another important issue brought by Netanyahu in his speech: the need of Israel for security.