Israel's East Jerusalem Colonizing on Eggshells Now?

Despite the wide perception in the United States that Israeli leader Benyamin Netanyahu has not budged on his government's position on the colonization of East Jerusalem, the leader is trying to spin it positively.

"We are trying to find the golden path between our will to advance the peace process along with the United States, and between maintaining the standard policy of all Israeli governments," said Netanyahu just before boarding a plane back to Israel early Thursday.

Although the PM is sticking to the official position, that Israel has full sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem, the municipal authorities have been told to be more careful as they continue their colonizing activities, according to a report by Haaretz. They have been given

informal, oral instructions to act "with caution and sensitivity" when approving plans that might set off diplomatic rows. Officially, however, they were asked to continue working normally, as the government did not commit to a construction freeze in East Jerusalem.

City planners are blaming their gaffe of announcing new settlement construction during American Vice-President Joe Biden's trip to Israel last week on uncertainty about policy. "There's a general feeling of confusion among the city workers," one source said.

It does not help that zionist construction groups are trying to circumvent city officials' reservations by submitting plans through Arab front-men. They hope to get around the political sensitivity of the issue.

Reportedly, the city's mayor Nir Barkat is overseeing the building and planning committee's work to avoid controversial approvals. The city however denied this.

While the naive city official narrative is an interesting one, it is hard to believe they stumbled into controversy accidentally during a high-level political visit. Firming up Israel's control over East Jerusalem has been a national project since it occupied it in 1967. The ideological impulse is overt. However, that does not mean city officials are not going to be more careful about where they approve Jewish settlement housing and how many Palestinians homes they demolish. They will be so long as there is international scrutiny. However, once this attention passes, it will be business as usual. Until then, they will continue towards the goal of changing facts on the ground, but in smaller steps.

Just because there is a tift with the United States, it does not mean Israel's main ally is joining the international consensus. The United States was the only country that voted against a UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Israel's East Jerusalem colonization. One reason the relationship with the United States is so important is that its support largely shields Israel from global public opinion. How sincere this disagreement is will be gauged by how the United States responds to Israeli colonization, no matter how piecemeal.

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