Tears of a clown.

WASHINGTON — A routine Security Council debate on the Middle East and Palestine became Israel’s and the Palestinian Authority’s dress rehearsal for September’s General Assembly conference where the Palestinians will seek UN recognition.

Palestinian observer Riyad Mansour called on the UN to recognize a Palestinian state. It’s time to end the occupation, he said before bursting into tears. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor warned that the Palestinian way of bypassing peace talks will lead to frustration and violence.

He later addressed Mansour and asked him: “On behalf of whom will you present a resolution in September? Mr. Abbas or Hamas?” He called on the Palestinians to embrace “a road of solutions not resolutions; dialogue not monologue; and direct negotiations not unilateral declarations.”