Only 9,600 have reached a final ruling, and the commission has made settlement offers in a mere 496 cases, totaling only $5.7 million, an average of less than $12,000 per claimant a tiny sum given the time value of money, the equivalent of $300 compounded at 7% since the end of World War II.
In 2006 she was appointed by President George W. Bush to a President's Emergency Board to investigate, report and make settlement recommendations in a major dispute between a New York rail carrier and its employees represented by multiple labor unions.
They are also pushing hard for a separate labelling process that will end the forgery of products made in settlements in occupied Palestine, claiming that they are made in Israel and thus getting a preferential treatment based on EU-Israel agreements.
Bibi and his allies made Palestinian settlements in occupied territories more of a priority than security.
Key this year was the decision by the European Union that goods produced on land seized in the 1967 war must be labeled "Made in Settlements" (not "Made in Israel"), which will deprive Israel the corresponding tax benefits.
Both are neighborhoods that Israel considers integral parts of Jerusalem but that sit on land captured by the Israelis in the 1967 Middle East war, making them settlements in Palestinian eyes.
It is understandable that Palestinians are supporting boycotts of products made in settlements, however, since the settlements are illegitimate and must not be legitimized.
Beinart stressed, however, that he does not advocate a boycott in cases where there is no way to clearly distinguish between products made in settlements and those produced in Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly embarrassed at the move by his interior minister, Eli Yishai, leader of the right-wing Shas Party, who has made Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem one of his central causes.
The European Union does not grant the same customs concessions to products made in settlements as it does to those made in Israel, a policy that has drawn Israeli protests.
