Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is soon going to announce a complete freeze in West Bank settlement construction for 10 months, Army Radio quoted former Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin as saying on Wednesday.
This is very important as even though President Obama believes there should be no preconditions on negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be showing he's willing to compromise to try and get Palestinians to the table, where peace can truly be forged.
Will Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas reciprocate?
That seems to be the question now.
No one entity can mandate peace; It will take a concerted effort by Israeli and the Palestinians, and President Obama living up to his potential as a fair arbiter.
So far, Palestinians have refused to even sit down for negotiations while Israel expanded settlements in disputed areas:
The move would be a bid to renew peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, which has refused to negotiate with Israel while it continues to build in the West Bank.
This gesture by Netanyahu hopefully will be enough to get talks started.
One hangup could be East Jerusalem, which Beilin believes will not be subject to the freeze, but this should no deter President Obama, who has said:
Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided
Hopefully Obama will be able to convince Palestinians to accept the Israeli settlement freeze as a token of understanding and sit down at the table to hammer out a two-state solution so that Palestinians can finally have a state to call their own.