Noam Chomsky has some interesting thoughts on the East Jerusalem settlements that have sparked tensions between Israel and the US - or more specifically between Netanyahu and his US counterparts.

The way Chomsky sees it, the Americans don't have a problem so much with the settlements as with Netanyahu's hawkish attitude.

There are those in the Obama administration who are deeply troubled by the EJ settlements, but Chomsky takes the view that the main stumbling block isn't so much the settlements as the personage of Binyamin Netanyahu and his belligerent stance. The Israeli PM's refusal to yield on the East Jerusalem housing plan is a bit like giving the finger to the US. That certainly seemed to be how David Axelrod viewed it when he described the Israeli settlement announcement as 'an insult' and 'very destructive'.

Chomsky refers to Netanyahu's arrogance and his "insulting" posturing, but is also well aware of the nature of the game:

Chomsky: “President Obama, like every American president, has said that he’s opposed to settlement expansion, but his administration has made it clear that the position is purely symbolic. They would not undertake even very mild steps toward sanctions.”

Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem are part of a pattern of aggressive expansionism that flies in the face of the peace process. New settlements are preceded by the eviction of Palestinian residents and the bulldozing of homes. Palestinians born and raised in East Jerusalem aren't accorded Israeli citizenship, but instead hold the status of "permanent resident". They are rather like immigrants who live in their homes at the discretion of the authorities.

Netanyahu was recently in the US. The treatment he received would seem to confirm Chomsky's views about US frustrations with the Israeli leader. The PM got a bit of a slap down by most accounts. Haaretz' Aluf Benn says that Netanyahu left the US "disgraced, isolated and weaker than when he came".

The Israeli team was reportedly 'paranoid' about US intentions from the get-go. Netanyahu even declined to do business in his Mayflower Hotel suite believing it might be bugged and worked instead out of a secure room in the Israeli embassy. At some point during the meeting with the Americans, the Israeli team was left high-and-dry for an hour. The London Times claims that Obama left the meeting and dined without them.

An Israeli paper described the meeting as "a hazing in stages", others said Netanyahu had received "treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea".

Don't be distracted by the circus aspects of this spat. The bottom line is that despite the tense times of late, the relationship marches on. The 1,600 new housing units will be constructed in East Jerusalem. Hillary Clinton in a speedy change of gear went from talk of insult over the settlement announcement to lauding the ‘unshakable bond’. Yet another instance of the Palestinian people being reduced to a pawn in the greater Israel/US game.

Link also to Raw Story - Aljazeera - Times online