Netanyahu's far right wing pro settlement ruling coalition refused to extend a freeze on settlement construction in occupied territories to keep peace talks from collapsing. Instead settlement building has accelerated to four times the pace before the freeze, in violation of international law, and contrary to the wishes and interests of their American allies.
From Politico's Laura Rosen:
Holding pattern: Middle East peace track at impasse until after midterms
Behind the scenes, the Obama administration is still absorbing the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to date rejected a proposed American compromise package that would have offered various security and other assurances to Israel in exchange for a 60-day renewal of a partial West Bank settlement freeze that expired last month.
The American team is said to be frustrated and upset at Netanyahu’s dismissal to date of the package, which was drafted by the NSC’s Dennis Ross in close consultation with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molho.
"They’re really upset," one Washington Middle East hand in close contact with administration officials said Tuesday. "At the end of the day, they made this incredibly good faith effort to keep Bibi at the table." And Bibi proved as yet unwilling to budge.
"’We put our asses on the line,’" the sense of dismay among the U.S. Middle East team at Netanyahu's rejection of the U.S. package was described. "’We worked with your defense minister and gave you this amazing deal, all the cover you needed to extend the freeze. And you not only rejected it, but put forward a counterproposal [demanding Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state] pandering to the right and a stalling tactic.’"
Just today Bibi was hard at work trying to erect this arbitrary new stumbling block to reaching a peace deal. Netanyahu: Only when Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state will they be ready for peace Asking Palestinians to endorse Israel as a Jewish supremest state would lock Israel's 2.2 million Palestinian citizens into a permanent status as 2nd class citizens.
Pace of Israeli settlement construction four times faster than prior to freeze
Peace Now estimates that the pace of growth is four times faster than prior to the freeze.The Associated Press offered a similar figure of 544, which, while not comprehensive, was based on visits to 16 settlements and phone calls to four dozen more.
"I estimate that work has started at about 600 housing units, and I'm looking to complete the survey in order to know the exact number," said Peace Now researcher Hagit Ofran, who is planning to finish a report on the settlements next week. "In some places, it is only leveling the ground that has started and in others, it's the very foundation that is now being dug."
That's another 100 units under way since the Monitor's Joshua Mitnick reported last week on a rapid spurt of new Israeli settlement building, in which settlers are trying to make up for lost time.
More:
Record West Bank settlement building after moratorium
Israel ramps up settlement building
Israelis leaders are rushing ahead with building more settlements, but they say they want more peace talks too. In other words they want to eat their cake and have it too. That doesn't need to happen if this time if Americans get fed up with enabling and bankrolling an increasingly Apartheid occupation that has no end in sight.
Mideast Sides Mulling Alternatives To Peace Talks
The main alternative, according to officials, is to seek U.N. Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
"The U.N. is a possible option because this political battle ... needs to be transferred to the broader courtyard," said Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a top official of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
While such validation would not immediately change the situation on the ground, it could boost Palestinian leverage vis-a-vis Israel. International recognition of Palestine's borders could also further isolate Israel and limit the Jewish state's diplomatic and military options.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians would first seek recognition from the United States.
I've long stated that the world will know when Israel is serious about making peace when it stops building illegal settlements. Over the past 43 years that has yet to happen.
The U.S. has invested a lot of diplomatic capital to convene these talks. Our thanks is another slap in the face from our Israeli ally. Bibi feels secure in thumbing his nose at American requests for a settlement freeze because he knows there's very unlikely to be any price to pay for his intransigence, even with his provocative behavior being very likely to damage America's interests in the region.
But what if Bibi's intransigence exhausts America's patience? What if the U.S. were to become receptive to a Palestinian request for recognition? How far would Bibi's arrogance get him then if the Israeli Tail could no longer wag the American Dog?