If you’re for an Israeli freeze on settlements, there is some good and bad news for you (and if you’re opposed to a freeze, just swap the two headings).
The good news: Some reports indicate that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intends to initiate a settlement freeze in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem construction.
The bad news: The freeze will only come into effect after the approval of construction for hundreds of more homes in the West Bank.
Clearly, U.S. officials who have repeatedly called for a freeze on all settlement activity expressed “regret” regarding the new construction. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement:
“The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop.”
“We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate… We do appreciate Israel’s stated intent to place limits on settlement activity and will continue to discuss this with the Israelis as these limitations are defined.”
Similarly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned additional construction and declared the move “unacceptable.” From Paris, Abbas said:
“What the Israeli government said [about the planned construction] is not useful… It is unacceptable for us. We want a freeze on all settlement construction.”
In retaliation for the announcement, Palestinian officials may consider requesting European Union sanctions against Israel to halt additional settlement construction. A P.A. official told the popular Israeli paper Yediot Achronot (Ynet):
“There is not a country in the world that doesn’t believe the danger to peace is Israeli policy, and especially its settlement policy, so we must actualize this concept and translate it into sanctions.”