When Israel announced last week that it would permit construction of hundreds of Jewish apartments in the West Bank, the State Department acknowledged that the action directly violated commitments Israel made in June to quit building settlements in Palestinian territory, a crucial part of the U.S.-backed “road map” for peace. But instead of a harsh rebuke, the State Department’s reaction was low-key: “I can’t really comment on it, other than to say we have made our policy clear, which is that, under the road map, Israel has made a commitment to stop settlement activity, and sticking to that commitment is important,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. The mild response was characteristic of a Bush administration that seems to have given up trying to broker an Arab-Israeli peace in the face of repeated violations of the process by both sides. Full Story
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