(Image source: The New York Times)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

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Hundreds of housing units and thousands more planned as Israeli settlements ramp up in the West Bank -- where Palestinians had hoped to make their future capital.

Analysts say this might be the most active period of Israeli construction in years -- a boom which puts the prospect of any future Middle East peace talks on even shakier ground. (Video from Press TV)

A 10-month moratorium on settlements expired in September -- and the United States recently announced it was abandoning its efforts to convince Israel to stop.

Iran’s state-run Press TV suggests -- with construction showing no signs of halting -- Palestinians won’t come to the negotiating table.

“The Palestinian authority says settlement freeze is a precondition for the return to direct talks, and they will not negotiate while settlements eat up the land they want for a future independent state. ... Meanwhile the Palestinians are considering a unilateral declaration of statehood, perhaps by requesting a resolution from the United Nations General Assembly or the Security Council.”

The New York Times’ Ethan Bronner says continuing settlements pose new dilemmas for future talks -- if they ever happen -- noting Israeli settlers would have to be relocated. Still - Bronner urges Palestinians to press forward for peace.

“Israel has replied that the sooner talks get started, the sooner settlements and other areas of dispute can be solved, so staying away from negotiations is self-defeating for the Palestinians.”

But in an extensive, 25-minute debate over the issue on RT -- a Palestinian activist says negotiations without a settlement freeze wouldn’t be negotiations at all.

OMAR BARGHOUTI, PACBI: “This is not about negotiations between to symmetric sides, two equal sides. One side is a colonial side and the other is the oppressed side. We’re not equivalent in this. So when we say negotiations without reference, without a vision to end injustice, to end settler colonialism, and to have freedom for all, these are not negotiations.”

Finally - an editorial in Lebanon’s The Daily Star says giving up on talks simply isn’t an option. But writer Ziad Asali says -- both Israeli and Palestinian leaders’ hands are tied.

“On both sides, the loudest public voices are the vociferous and cynical lamentations of professional victims warning politicians against the ‘betrayal’ of sacred and historic ‘rights.’ … A concerted effort must be made to shape expectations and to explain to people that the future is more important than the past and that sanity, not to say civility, must prevail in public discourse.”

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