Ahead of his second meeting March 16 with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Jason Greenblatt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video clip on his Facebook page. “We’re in a process of dialogue with the White House,” he said. And what is this dialogue about? “About an agreed policy on construction in the settlements.” Indeed, Netanyahu did not forget his promise to the residents of the illegally built West Bank outpost of Amona that he would build a new settlement for them after they were evicted in January under a court order.

Not even three months have elapsed since the UN Security Council voted unanimously on Dec. 23 against the settlement and outpost enterprise in Israeli-occupied territories. Netanyahu thumbed his nose at Resolution 2334, laughing at it all the way to Singapore, Sydney, Moscow and Beijing (which he visited in recent weeks), and even to the White House.

But the heads of Israel’s intelligence services, as well as Israeli Middle East scholars, aren’t amused. Shin Bet security agency director Nadav Argaman reported on March 20 to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the activity of the Palestinian terrorist organizations indicates continued escalation of the threat level from the West Bank, reflecting the ongoing destabilization momentum in this region. He noted that some young activists still view terrorism as a legitimate tool to generate change in this arena. Argaman’s assessment is compatible with the one presented last November by the head of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi. He, too, warned against instability in the West Bank, attributing it to the weakened standing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the battles for succession in the Palestinian leadership and exploitation of the unrest by Hamas. At the beginning of March, Halevi warned against a conflagration in the West bank unless residents see some sort of diplomatic horizon soon. That was shortly after the publication on Feb. 28 of a report by the State Comptroller General on the 2014 Gaza war, accusing Israel’s political leadership of ignoring the security implications of the Gaza blockade, namely the despair of the besieged Gaza Strip residents.

A wide-ranging public opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, headed by Khalil Shikaki, found that most residents of the territories prefer the two-state option to a one-state one. But seven out of 10 Palestinians questioned in the poll — conducted ahead of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation — believe that a Palestinian state will not be established within the coming five years. But what should be most worrying for a responsible Israeli government is expressed in a finding that every second Palestinian supports a dismantling of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and renewal of the armed struggle against Israel. In addition, a large majority (77%) supports the severing of security coordination with Israel.