Often I will ask my Palestinian friends about the state of the negotiations, and they will talk to me about pizza.
"You see, Jerry, imagine we are negotiating over a pizza, and the other side (Israel) is constantly eating it. Every day we wake up and there are less and less slices."
And it's true. The settlement project is consuming much of the resources in the West Bank. But while the argument does work particularly well for resources which can be depleted (ie.ingested), the settlers view it differently when it comes to land.
"Listen Yaron, If we're negotiating over a pizza, and at the end the Arabs (Palestinians) get the pizza, then our settlement construction is like some nice (kosher) toppings for their pizza. Why are they complaining?"
This is also true. So here's the measly truth about this so called "freeze."
For Israel, extending the freeze for another 60 days has ZERO effect on the ground, since the typical West Bank building cycle is 10 months. For any building freeze to actually have an effect on the rate of construction, it must be at least a year. So why not give the Palestinians the 60 days they're asking for to keep this moving forward?
Remember that the last freeze allowed for building on existing foundations, so Israel can just do what they did last time: Approve all the tenders they want before the freeze goes into effect and give their "West Bank tender approval dept. a 60 day vacation in Acapulco."
For the Palestinians, you're already knee deep in Israeli settlements. Building in the West Bank has been going on since 1967. What difference does another 60 days make?
The so-called freeze actually applies much better to the hearts of the so-called leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Bibi Netanyahu.
Thus far, they are both too cowardly to take any bold steps to peace.
Bibi will never give up Jerusalem.
Abbas will never give up the right of return.
That's what this is about.
The "freeze" is just a convenient excuse for both sides to back out of the negotiations before the real negotiations begin, and blame it all on the other side.