After relentless pressure from the United States, Europe and other players, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week declared a 10-month freeze on some West Bank settlement construction.
While offering qualified support for the temporary freeze, the Obama administration expressed disappointment it did not include East Jerusalem and exempted many projects already under way. Overall, the loudest response to the freeze comes from the chirping crickets.
Predictably, the people most affected by the 10-month freeze — West Bank Jewish settlers and local Palestinians — reacted harshly to the Netanyahu announcement.
Jewish settlers blasted the government and promised to turn away inspectors sent out to enforce the freeze. On the other hand, Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erakat was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying, “Nothing has changed.”
But something has changed. Since Netanyahu took office earlier this year, building starts in the West Bank have dropped some 60 percent. This under a Likudnik prime minister who formerly championed the settler movement as did few other leading Israeli politicians.
When it comes to reviving productive negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, issues such as permanent borders, water rights, the status of Jerusalem and the dismantling of terrorism are far more important than the settlements. And yet, daily headlines from the region focus inordinately on this secondary issue.
Obviously, Netanyahu has felt compelled to work with the United States, and yield when he can. This temporary freeze is his way of throwing the Obama administration a bone.
Just as obviously, with U.S. demands for a halt to Jewish settlement activity meeting with Israeli resistance, Palestinian leaders sensed an opportunity to drive a wedge between Israel and the United States. Though that effort was minimally successful at best, it did thrust the settlement issue to the fore. And now, like it or not, all parties must address it.
If a final status agreement ever comes to fruition, it will have to deal with settlements. Pragmatists on both sides understand this would likely mean Israel incorporates some of the larger settlement towns into Israel proper, with land swaps to compensate the Palestinians.
Unfortunately, pragmatists are too often in short supply in that part of the world.
We can only hope that as the key players dance around this current settlement flap, they keep their eyes on the bigger prize: a workable peace deal. Until then, insufficient short-term plans that please no one will likely remain commonplace.