President Obama and his Middle East Negotiator George Mitchell continue to press the Israelis for a total construction freeze on disputed territory claimed by Palestinians. The administration implicitly supports the Palestinian refusal to return to negotiations until such an unconditional freeze is in place. As Charles Krauthammer observes, the Palestinians negotiated for more than sixteen years, and even agreed to the Oslo Accords, with no Israeli commitment to stop building housing on contested territory like East Jerusalem.

The only reason that Palestinians now insist upon this unilateral gesture is that President Obama planted the idea, making any resumption of peace talks practically impossible. The Israelis will sit down without pre-conditions, but Obama's policy encourages Palestinians to refuse to participate until they preemptively receive one of the biggest concessions they could possibly receive in the negotiations before talks even begin.