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Israeli settlers are a tough bunch and not easily deterred by a bit of cold weather - or, for that matter, by a partial government freeze on construction in the occupied West Bank. Despite the blustery December chill in the air in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, about 10,000 demonstrators, mostly settlers, gathered near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand their right to build at will. "Bibi, you can't freeze our spirit!" shouted the lead speaker, using Netanyahu's nickname. "We'll continue to build the land of Israel, with or without you!" (See pictures of heartbreak...
...Tension between the government and West Bank settlers has been rising since November, when Netanyahu's cabinet called for a 10-month pause in construction, in response to pressure from the U.S. and Europe to stop expanding its grip on territories captured in the war of 1967. Obama had hoped a settlement freeze would enable a resumption of peace talks, because the West Bank and East Jerusalem (together with Gaza) are seen by the Palestinians as the basis of a future state. But the settlers' concept of Israel's boundaries derives from the Bible, and they fear that the government...
...sure construction has halted, some merely by sending schoolgirls out to blockade the main gates. "We'll keep building day or night," an official at the Kedumim settlement told TIME last week. And even Netanyahu has said that when the freeze is over, construction can resume in the West Bank, where construction permits are granted at a higher rate than inside Israel, the Israeli activist group Peace Now reported on Wednesday...
Given the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian talks, the U.S. has various options. It could table its own comprehensive peace plan. It could change its focus to brokering a deal between Israel and Syria. Or it could vastly reinvigorate the effort to build up Palestinian institutions on the West Bank as part of a step-by-step progression toward peace. Working with special envoy Tony Blair and the private sector, the U.S. could again help build economic institutions, learning and job centers, industrial free-trade zones and youth programs. It would not require a lot of money; it could be done...
...return of Palestinian refugees and sovereignty over Jerusalem - could be saved until later. So, too, could the question of Gaza, whose citizens would then be presented with the stark choice of continuing to support Hamas or embracing the peace and prosperity enjoyed by their brethren in the West Bank. And President Obama could take a large step toward fulfilling the hopes he raised in his Cairo speech...