In Palestine, news of further settlement construction could not dampen the celebratory mood as 21 of the freed prisoners were greeted by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and senior officials at an official celebration in the presidential compound in Ramallah.
But he scoffed at their demand for an end to the three-year-old war in the separatist region, saying, "They and those who stand behind them are afraid of further settlement and stabilization".
The Israeli official would not go into specifics, but there have been suggestions that Israel might temporarily suspend announcements of further settlement construction or consider releasing some Palestinian prisoners, an issue that the Palestinian leadership has highlighted.
At the same time, he will grant the hard right a figleaf of political protection for their headlong pursuit of further settlement growth, growing obstacles to a Palestinian state and the increasing potential of a one-state, apartheid reality for Israel and the Palestinians.
For decades, the United States has favored the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the halting of further settlement development.
The insistence on further settlement, the failures of the Palestinian leadership to respond to Israeli offers during the negotiating process at Camp David and Taba; the rise of suicide bombing, martyr worship, Islamist ideology, and internecine violence; the myriad misjudgments of the Olmert government — all have deepened the sense of hopelessness.
"The timing and amounts of any further settlements or redress however remain uncertain and could be significant".
The territorial possessions of the city also include large sections of swampy cultivated lowlands and stretches along the Weser, which became associated with the rise of further smaller settlements.
The granting of this tract to Beverley spurred further settlement of the region west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
A feeling in Europe is growing that future Israeli announcements of further Jewish settlement-building on the West Bank should be met with retaliatory measures.
