Is it just me? (Failing to understand why Israel is even talking to the Palestinians)

I have often joked that the trend in Arab-Israeli negotiations is that Israel is expected to bring large tracts of land to the negotiating table in order to sue for peace... and the Arabs are expected to bring a pen. But this time around I'm struggling to find the joke.

How sad is it that after all these years we still haven't settled the most basic issue of Israel's right to self-determination... yet Palestinian self-determination is not only a given, but their right to define themselves any way they like is considered sacrosanct.

Just to review:

1. The Palestinians want demand their own state... but they want all of the 'Palestinian refugees' to have the right to retrn to Israel... not the Palestinian state. Isn't the very raison d'etre of a Palestinian State (and the Paletinian self-determination movement) to provide people who self-identify as ethnically, politically or culturally 'Palestinian' with a place they can call their own???

2. The Palestinians claim the right to self rule and bridle at any whiff of outside interference in their internal affairs... yet they demand that Israel be treated like some bankrupt company languishing in receivership that must be administered by an outside fiduciary trustee (i.e. the UN or the EU).

3. The Palestinians are arguably the least transparent legal/political/financial entity on the planet, yet they dismiss as cumbersome and insulting any request from those who have been pouring unprecedented amounts of foreign aid into their Swiss bank accounts coffers (more than even the Marshall Plan provided to All of Europe after WWII) for even the most basic accounting of where the money has gone.

...