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Hopfully, this is merely a crude "bargaining chip". Otherwise, the discussions/negotiations are already hung and will be for years to come.

And in other news...300,000,000 rockets are set to be launched at Israel tomorrow while the IDF reqadies plans of a major offensive to take place in 2 days

Finance Minister Yair Lapid lashed out Sunday at the decision to build more than one thousand new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling it "a double mistake."

Lapid's comments came on the heels of similar condemnation by Meretz leader, Zahava Gal-On, who accused the government of trying to stymie the nascent peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Announcing the decision to market 1,200 housing units in east Jerusalem and in the larger settlement blocs at this time is a double mistake," Lapid said in a statement.

"Solutions for the problem of housing should be founded in the areas of need," he wrote. "Additionally, the use of resources meant to provide housing for the middle class to needlessly defy the Americans will impede the peace process."

Gal-On branded decision "a roadside bomb the government has placed to eliminate the peace negotiations before they even begin."

She added that there would never be a peace agreement until Israel adheres to the 1967 lines and a territorial exchange.

Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich added her voice to those slamming the decision, saying that the move destroys all progress the negotiations have made so far.

"There is no practical meaning the announcement, all it accomplishes is to violently torpedo the seeds of international recognition and support that we have garnered for the renewed peace talks," she said in a statement.

She called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "choose what type of government he is heading - a government that seeks a political agreement or a government that denies the possibility of a diplomatic solution."

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, however, who welcomed the move to built 800 new housing units in the Jerusalem area.

"New construction in Jerusalem is essential to the development and strengthening of the city and for allowing young people to live and buy apartments," Barkat said, "I am glad that the government of Israel sees us eye to eye on this important need."

He also said that there is a need to continue to develop more housing as well as to invest in "continued economic, cultural and educational development."

The decision by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, currently under the control of Bayit Yehudi's Uri Ariel, comes a few days before the first of four planned Palestinian prisoner releases that are part of the renewed negotiations.

Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah echoed his party chairman Yair Lapid's criticism of the government's announcement that the state would issue 1,200 tenders for homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"This decision… is errant and dangerous, not just because of the timing - just before the renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians after years of disconnect - but because of the outrageous parallel that is being created between Israeli gestures, like the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the establishing of facts on the ground that will complicate future negotiations."

"Instead of courageously stating what is so obvious to every Israeli – that there won't be a final status agreement without a return to the June 4, 1967 lines with slight border adjustments and territorial swaps, the government prefers to zigzag between steps that are morally questionable and continuing the settlement enterprise, which is a key obstacle to any agreement."

I would in a heartbeat but my day is pretty slammed. When is game time?

The hatred for Israel runs so deep, the possibility for peace appears remote. As Abba Eban said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

Even if Israel concedes to giving up land and conforming to the pre-1967 borders, the Palestinians will continue to attack Israel, with the hope they will be destroyed, and driven from the middle-east. The Arab world, and Russia are patiently waiting for this to occur. Israel's prosperity and progress has made them a plum for conquest. When it's attempted, the whole world will be effected, and Mr. Obama will be faced with some decisions he is not competent to make. This is a critical time, and there's not much we can do, except watch it unfold. God is control of this particular situation.

Dad,

I understand your view, but there's a lot of evil things going on now, that will be corrected. Just watch...

I agree.... but it may get a bit messy. lol

I've got popcorn a poppin'.

'bout time we had a new topic.

Wouldn't it be funny if they actually made peace and Christian end of times predictions fell apart?!

No, but it would be ironic for those who do not beleivet that prophecy. That prophacy is predominanly why the U.S. supports Israel to the extent it does.

I say we let them all fight in cage matches and televise the events and reimburse the USA for all the money we send them both.

Aren't we supposed to get WW3 first?

OK, that's what I thought. We gotta have a huge war before have the "big" war. We can't have an Arab-Israeli peace until after the first war or the whole prophecy falls down. I'm glad I'm gonna rapture out before all this happens.

So at least for now.......Booooo peace. Booooo!

No....Obama is term limited.

Nice find! Thanks. And that's from Abbas, hardly representing the the terrorist/military/lunatic wing. Quite the contrary, they consider him a real lightweight. Won't be easy, very surprised Kerry even got this far.

I typed my post and then hopped in the waiting car and headed to The Cape. Had no idea how nicely everyone would play while I had a parallel vacation with the Prez.

(Reuters) - A 10-minute drive from where negotiators will sit down on Wednesday to resume long-stalled Middle East peace talks, Israeli bulldozers are busy reshaping land that Palestinians want for their future state.

Settler homes are popping up across East Jerusalem and major roads are being built to burgeoning Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel has just approved plans for 3,100 new homes on the territory it seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

The non-stop building on the land that is at the heart of the conflict raises serious doubts about whether the latest round of U.S.-brokered talks can result in a deal to create an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"The two-state solution by now is unobtainable," said Dani Dayan, a former chairman of the settler movement, arguing that any accord palatable to the Palestinians would involve removing so many settlers that it would be impossible to enact.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the driving force behind the resumption of talks following a three-year hiatus, agrees it is a major problem, but says there is time for a final push.

"What this underscores is the importance of getting to the table, getting to the table quickly," he told reporters in Colombia on Monday when asked about the series of Israeli building announcements in the run-up to the new negotiations.

Israel has rejected criticism of its construction plans, saying the new homes would be erected in settlements within blocs it intends to keep in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

The settler numbers are imposing. In 2010, when the Palestinians quit negotiations over settlement building, some 311,110 Israelis were living in the West Bank. Today, according to Israel's Army Radio, this has surged to 367,000.

Adding in East Jerusalem, then the number of Israelis living beyond the 1967 lines rises to nearly 600,000. Few, if any, would willingly quit their homes as part of a peace deal.

After an initial round of meetings in Washington at the end of last month, the real discussions start on Wednesday, with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni facing Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Jerusalem's King David Hotel.

The negotiations will be moderated by U.S. envoy Martin Indyk, with the next encounter already penciled in for later this month in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Bowing to a Palestinian condition to get the talks going, and eager not to antagonize an anxious Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to the staggered release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, many convicted of murder.

The first 26 are due to go free early on Wednesday, and political analysts say the recent splurge of settlement moves was a bid by Netanyahu to placate his legion of supporters who reject the so-called two-state solution.

But the sheer quantity of planned new homes has stunned outsiders and led the Palestinians to issue a clear warning.

"If the Israeli government believes that every week they're going to cross a red line by settlement activity ... what they're advertising is the unsustainability of the negotiations," Erekat said on Sunday.

Kerry told reporters that while some movement on the settlement front had been expected, the wave of announcements may have been "outside of that level of expectation".

Daniel Seidemann, a lawyer and an expert on settlement expansion, said that in the last 24 hours, Israel had approved a 3.26 percent increase in the number of housing units in East Jerusalem alone, saying this could prove fatal to peace chances.

"I think Mr. Netanyahu may have miscalculated this. He won't shed any tears if the talks fall apart, but he will shed tears if he is blamed for this," he said.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have set a goal of reaching a peace deal within nine months that would resolve many problems confronting them, including agreeing to borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the sharing of scarce water resources.

While pessimists abound, a few optimists still stand up, including Israeli President Shimon Peres.

He argues that not only do Israelis want peace, but that the recent instability caused by the Arab uprisings has left a number of Arab states eager to settle the decades-old conflict.

"People who are skeptical are wrong. There is a difference between this and previous attempts," he said on Sunday.