It's clear that the authorization of 1,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank on the eve of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposed resumption of the Palestinian “negotiations,” Netanyahu’s pre-emptive strike, should clearly lead to a serious reassessment of US policy on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That Kerry asserted the obvious — namely, that the United States considers settlements as illegal — should be firmly applied, notwithstanding probable congressional protestations.
I have often stated that Israel never acknowledged itself as an occupying power. The continued proliferation of settlements of whatever Palestinian territories it deems necessary for its “security” was given as a justification for creeping annexation and used as a tactic in negotiations.
