Volume 6; Issue 3
You've heard them from Netanyahu, from Barak, from pundits, and from friends and family. Here we take on directly the bogus excuses offered to justify East Jerusalem settlement expansion.
Israeli Settlements: March 2010 Archives
Why did Israel greet Vice President Biden with an announcement of more settlement activity in East Jerusalem? Was it a deliberate insult? A provocation? A sign of colossal hubris?
The more likely answer is less sinister but no less ominous: this was just business-as-usual - an Israeli government thumbing its nose at the US, assuming there will be no consequences.
Most insiders agree that Netanyahu probably didn't know in advance about the settlement plan coming up for approval, and that the timing was more about one of Netanyahu's ministers trying to embarrass him than about trying to pick a fight with Washington. But that absolves Netanyahu of nothing. For him to not be keeping track of (and taking control of) Jerusalem settlement plans at this point is either gross negligence or willful ignorance.
And that, too, is business-as-usual: an Israeli Prime Minister who believes it is politically easier and less costly to clash with the US than with his own cabinet or domestic constituencies.
The more likely answer is less sinister but no less ominous: this was just business-as-usual - an Israeli government thumbing its nose at the US, assuming there will be no consequences.
Most insiders agree that Netanyahu probably didn't know in advance about the settlement plan coming up for approval, and that the timing was more about one of Netanyahu's ministers trying to embarrass him than about trying to pick a fight with Washington. But that absolves Netanyahu of nothing. For him to not be keeping track of (and taking control of) Jerusalem settlement plans at this point is either gross negligence or willful ignorance.
And that, too, is business-as-usual: an Israeli Prime Minister who believes it is politically easier and less costly to clash with the US than with his own cabinet or domestic constituencies.
Continue reading Ending the "business-as-usual" settlements era in East Jerusalem?.
Volume 6, Issue 2
On November 25, 2009, the Government of Israel announced a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction and planning. As we noted from the outset, the impact of this decision - both on the ground and on the Obama Administration's efforts to launch new Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - will depend mainly on the good faith (or lack thereof) that characterizes the government of Israel's implementation of the moratorium.
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