One month after President Obama jump-started direct peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis, the process was on the verge of breaking down this week after Israel resumed building settlements in the West Bank. Israel had imposed a moratorium on settlements in November, but the moratorium expired this week despite U.S. pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend it. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would take a week to consult with Arab leaders before deciding whether to continue the direct, biweekly negotiations with Netanyahu. “We are waiting for Netanyahu,” said Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath. “If he freezes settlements, this will bring us back to the negotiations.”
This impasse is Obama’s fault, said Richard Cohen in The Washington Post. Not all settlements are created equal. Camps deep within the West Bank are needlessly provocative, but others are not, and for many Israelis, “settlements have enormous religious and ideological importance.” For Obama to have insisted last year on a total settlement freeze as the prerequisite for talks was “bad diplomacy.” Netanyahu reluctantly complied then, but if he extends the freeze now, his coalition government will collapse.
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