If You Build It

Haaretz reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wooed Avigdor Lieberman with a promise to expand a controversial settlement block:

A source close to the negotiations between the pair told Army Radio that the plan had been agreed upon even though it did not appear in the official document detailing the coalition deal between Yisrael Beiteinu and Netanyahu's Likud.

The plan is for the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim to build 3000 new housing units on the territory, which stretches between it and Jerusalem, the source was quoted as saying.

Construction in the area is particularly sensitive because it would create contiguity between the settlement and the capital, which in turn would prevent Palestinian construction between East Jerusalem and Ramallah.

This would also make it difficult to reach agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on the question of permanent borders.

If this is indeed true, it would seem to be a good test-case for the Obama administration regarding its position on Israel. If the Netanyahu government does proceed with these settlements, which the U.S. opposes, will there be meaningful consequences? Should there be?

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Photo via Hoyasmeg under a CC License.