fta
Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that, despite the friction it will likely create with the Obama administration, Netanyahu was preparing to allow more West Bank settlements to continue building homes.

A freeze on settlement construction, including natural growth, is one of the first things Israel agreed to do as part of the Road Map for Middle East peace drawn up by the Bush administration in 2003.

(Israel imposed its own interpretation of the Road Map and contends that it will not freeze settlement building until the Palestinians bring a complete halt to violence in the West Bank.)

In discus...

fta
Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that, despite the friction it will likely create with the Obama administration, Netanyahu was preparing to allow more West Bank settlements to continue building homes.

A freeze on settlement construction, including natural growth, is one of the first things Israel agreed to do as part of the Road Map for Middle East peace drawn up by the Bush administration in 2003.

(Israel imposed its own interpretation of the Road Map and contends that it will not freeze settlement building until the Palestinians bring a complete halt to violence in the West Bank.)

In discussing removing settlements, Ayalon argued that Jews should be able to live in the West Bank just as Palestinians are allowed to live in Israel.

"There should not be some Judenrein or ethnic cleansing where Jews cannot live," he said. "I mean... Palestinians can live anywhere they want between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, right? They live in Jaffa, they live in Haifa, they live in Baka (a neighborhood in Jerusalem)."

The notion that Palestinians can live anywhere they want in Israel would come as something of a surprise to millions of Palestinians that actually can't live anywhere they want in Israel.

fta
One of the biggest Palestinian political platforms rejected by Israel is a demand that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to homes and land inside Israel. Israeli leaders say allowing any Palestinians to return would dilute the Jewish nature of Israel.

Then there are the Israeli regulations that bar most Palestinians living in the West Bank from even entering Israel for short periods of time. Many can't even visit Jerusalem. Israeli law also prevents Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza who marry Israelis from living in Israel with their husbands or wives. Palestinians looking for a h...

fta
One of the biggest Palestinian political platforms rejected by Israel is a demand that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to homes and land inside Israel. Israeli leaders say allowing any Palestinians to return would dilute the Jewish nature of Israel.

Then there are the Israeli regulations that bar most Palestinians living in the West Bank from even entering Israel for short periods of time. Many can't even visit Jerusalem. Israeli law also prevents Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza who marry Israelis from living in Israel with their husbands or wives. Palestinians looking for a house among the 280,000 Jewish settlers in the 120 Israeli settlements in the West Bank are also unlikely to received with open arms.

Virtually all of the 1.5M Palestinians in Gaza are barred not only from entering Israel, but also from traveling through Israel to visit the West Bank. What Ayalon was perhaps trying to convey is that there are 1.5M Arab residents in Israel that represent about 20% of the nation's population of 7.4M.