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Entrance Ramp to a Settlement Freeze

[Jerusalem Post] Herb Keinon - Prime Minister Netanyahu's office has announced the entrance ramp into a settlement freeze. Israel will agree to a temporary moratorium - the first such moratorium since then-prime minister Menachem Begin held talks at Camp David in the late 1970s. But before the moratorium, Israel will announce the approval of hundreds of new apartments that - together with the 2,500 units already being built in West Bank settlements - will provide for what Netanyahu calls normal life (and which the world has taken to calling "natural growth"). Netanyahu brought this plan to the inner cabinet late last month and the forum approved the move. It is obvious that Washington knew about these plans. Netanyahu reportedly briefed U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell during his visit to Europe two weeks ago. The U.S. administration misread the Israeli public, thinking that the settlements were enormously unpopular, and that the public would back the U.S. president. The Israeli public saw the U.S. demand as unreasonable and rallied around Netanyahu. In addition, it became clear with time that there had indeed been agreements with the Bush administration on where and how Israel could continue to build in the settlements, and that the Obama administration was simply tossing those out the window. This led to some push-back, not only in Israel, but also in the U.S., with some asking how the Obama administration could call on Israel to fulfill its commitments, when it itself was not doing the same. Another element that led to a change in the U.S. position was Saudi intransigence. Ironically, it is this inflexibility that has led - to a large extent - to the Obama administration becoming more flexible on Netanyahu's position that he can't stop all settlement construction.
2009-09-07 08:00:00
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