I have written to you in past years to alert you to Americans for Peace Now’s annual Israel study tour, which I lead. These tours focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and efforts to resolve it, and examine Israel’s security and diplomatic challenges, as well as the situation on the Palestinian side.

This year’s tour is different. For one thing, it takes place earlier than the usual – April 25 to April 30 – which means that time for registration is short.

The timing of this year’s tour gives us a unique opportunity to observe Israeli society right after general elections, as a new government coalition takes shape, and with it new policies – for better or worse. By the time we start our tour, five weeks after the March 17 general elections, we should expect a government coalition to have been formed and maybe even sworn in. Considering the importance of these elections, and regardless of their results, the period following the elections will be pivotal for Israel’s future as is the ever-revolving Middle Eastern regional kaleidoscope.

This week, Alpher discusses why the PLO toughened its statehood resolution at the Security Council at the last minute instead of waiting a few days for a friendlier roster of Council members; whether, with France voting for the resolution and the UK abstaining, if this is a breakthrough for the cause of Palestinian statehood at the level of international institutions; what is likely to happen now that the Palestinians are going to the International Criminal Court; possible US and Israeli punitive measures against the Palestinians’ UN and ICC moves; what does the Fateh movement, the mainstay of the PLO and PA, and which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on January 1, have to show for its efforts and how do they tie in with the UN and ICC; and -- what about Israeli elections?

As anybody who follows Israeli-Palestinian issues knows, on December 31, 2014, after the UN Security Council rejected a Jordanian-backed resolution that would have imposed terms of reference and a timeline for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Palestinian President Abbas did something – not everyone seems clear what – in the international arena.  This Q&A looks at what Abbas actually did and did not do, and what U.S. law says about those actions.