On Sept. 5, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas invited 20 left-wing Israeli intellectuals to his office in Ramallah.  Abbas' Israeli guests, in opposition to their own government, proceeded to urge him to go to the UN and seek a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. Journalists were invited to cover the meeting, reports Ethan Bronner, the Jerusalem bureau chief of the New York Times, who dutifully accompanied the group.  ("Abbas Affirms Palestinian Bid for U.N. Membership," Sept. 6, page A6). Bronner, in a four-column spread, uncritically passes on to Times readers Abbas's claims that his UN bid is in sync with getting to direct negotiations with Israel, that he is committed to a two-state solution and that his goal is for a "Palestinian state and Israel to live in peace and security next to one another." "We don't want to delegitimize Israel," Abbas tells his guests.  "We want to legitimize ourselves.  We are...(Read Full Post)