Casting aside its well known hardline stance, the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a ten-month moratorium on the building of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says that the gesture is in the interest of Israel, saying that it will demonstrate to the international community Tel-Aviv's readiness to hold serious peace talks with Palestinians.
Perhaps the world is witnessing slight shift in Israel's hitherto tough stand on the issue of settlements, the main obstacle on the road to resumption of the Middle East peace process. Head of the Palestinian national administration Mahmud Abbas has said that there will be no resumption of negotiations unless and until settlement construction has been stopped. He went on to talk about his plan to pull out from upcoming presidential election in the autonomy in protest against Israel's colonization policy. Should Abbas carry out his threat the radical Hamas can assume power in Palestine, with all the dire consequences for the region.
Such a turn of events will hardly be diceblable for Israel, and moreover, Tel-Aviv has been forced to heed the opinion of the international community. A few days ago, Russia, the United States, the EU and the UN, the four mediators in the Middle East peace process again called on the conflicting sides to implement their obligations under the road map plan, among which is the halting of settlement activity by Israel. The Russian foreign ministry regards settlement construction as predetermining of the outcome of Israel-Palestine negotiations within the road map plan. Possibly, it served as precondition for the decision of the government of Netanyahu.
But has the decision satisfied Palestinians, and will temporary freezing of settlement construction lead to cardinal alteration of the situation in the Middle East? Vladimir Morozov, member of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations' think tank on the Middle East has strong doubts.
Halting of settlement activity will not produce tangible result since Israel has on several occasions halted building of settlements, only to resume construction work with renewed vigour. The cabinet of Netanyahu has for now bowed to international pressure and announced a 10-month moratorium, but there will not be a breakthrough in Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement, Morozov believes.
Facts back the unpleasant conclusion; Israel's decision does not mean the complete halting of settlements construction; it means a pause in works on the West bank. East Jerusalem will remain abuzz with construction work. After all, might is right.
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