Well, the long awaited response from Israel on the Obama Administration’s stance to halt settlement expansion is here...and to say it is interesting is an understatement to say the least.
Israel will not cancel the East Jerusalem settlement project. Instead they've decided to go another route.
...according to Diehl's report based on a briefing from Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, Netanyahu will respond by offering Israel's "assurances that the new neighborhood will not be constructed anytime soon; it is, in fact, two or three years from groundbreaking."
Hmm...interesting. So in other words, the project will not be canceled, it's just going to be, shall we say, not built any time soon. AKA, time stalling.
But that's not all.
"Coupled to that would be an Israeli pledge to avoid publicizing further construction decisions in Jerusalem. The result would not be a freeze, but something like a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for settlements," Diehl added.
Yes of course. So, not only are we going to delay the settlement for a few years, but we won't tell you about what we plan to build anymore. So in other words, look the other way America, and all will be fine.
Hopefully, this is not the answer the United states was looking for, and they do something about it, and have a direct response to this. Because I will be perfectly honest about this. This appears to me to be something to ease tensions at the moment, with the direct result being the allowance of time to pass by and the controversy to subside.
The end result of that being, in a period of 18-24 months Israel begins construction on settlements once again, doesn't tell America or anyone else about it, and in the end gets exactly what they wanted all along against the wishes of the United States and the European Union. Not acceptable.