(Commentary) Evelyn Gordon - In his interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on Sunday, President Barack Obama said, "We have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we've seen in a very long time." But as a simple glance at the annual data published by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reveals, there has been less settlement construction during Netanyahu's five years as Israeli premier (2009-13) than under any of his recent predecessors. During those five years, housing starts in the settlements averaged 1,443 a year. That's less than the 1,702 a year they averaged under Ehud Olmert in 2006-08 or the 1,652 per year they averaged under Ariel Sharon in 2001-05. And it's far less than under Ehud Barak (4,683 in the year 2000). It's true that settlement construction more than doubled last year, but it doubled from a low base.
2014-03-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive