Promises made, then broken. Promise peace. Wage war and daily violence throughout the Territories. Announce a settlement construction halt. Keep building, the promised pause (not a freeze) never observed despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's December 8 announced moratorium saying: 

"I hope that this decision will help launch meaningful negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," what he relentlessly pursues, spurning resolution for an equitable, just peace, wanting surrender, not conciliation on equal terms, what he'll never agree to or accept. 

Despite announcing "a suspension of new permits and new construction in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) for a period of ten months," construction never stopped. Israel's land grab continues. Thousands of new units have been approved, New York Times writer Ethan Bronner, on July 14, headlining, "Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise," saying: 

"....an examination of the freeze after more than seven months suggests that it amounts to something less significant, at least on the ground. In many West Bank settlements, building is proceeding apace. Dozens of construction sites with scores of Palestinian workers are active." 

Why? Because "cheating has occurred (and other units were) grandfathered in" to proceed. In addition, huge approval increases preceded Netanyahu's announcement, enough to continue construction unabated, though at a slower pace.  

Another promise, another lie like the bogus peace process and claims about regional threats, Israel posing the only one, what everyone knows but won't say. 

Peace Now.org (PN) on Israel's Bogus Moratorium 

PN "is the leading voice of Israeli public pressure for peace....with over 10,000 members from the Middle East and around the world." On August 8, it launched a anti-settlement campaign, saying: 

It's Israel's moment of truth, its "choice between hope and despair; between settlements and the peace process....between international isolation and global support....choosing settlements over peace will have a destructive impact on public support...." 

Eight months into the announced moratorium, PN assessed its non-enforcement, explaining: 

-- construction began on 600 or more housing units in 60 separate settlements, including 223 permanent structures and 167 caravans or semi-permanent projects; 

-- at least 492, announced on the eve of the pause, are in "direct violation," plus another 112 granted since December 8; 

-- during an average previous eight-month period, construction on about 1,130 housing units began; and 

-- currently, about 2,000 units are being built, most begun before the December 2009 announced pause. 

"This means that on the ground, there is almost no freeze or even a visible slowdown, despite the fact that legal construction starts have been prohibited for eight months. It also means that....Israel is not enforcing the moratorium." 

Included are small scale and much larger projects, involving dozens of units. For example, 180 have been built in Modiin Ilit, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and another 40 in Givat Ze'ev, northwest of Jerusalem, one of the largest settlements with an estimated 10,800 population, a virtual small town. 

In addition, other projects broke ground for their infrastructure, including 62 Barkan units in the northern West Bank, about 100 in Neriya, and 60 in Shaarei Tikvah. In total, 16 settlements have large-scale violations, many others smaller ones. 

In the past decade, an average 1,700 new housing units were built annually, plus others built illegally. The settlement pause (never a freeze, a word Netanyahu never used)) excluded construction begun before it began. It will expire in October. Unless maintained and enforced, it will perpetuate the peace and conciliation lie, one persisting for decades. The names and faces change. The fraud and deceit remain. 

Ending the moratorium in October will amount to another  "meaningless, several month delay," nothing more. Continuing construction "cast doubt from the start" on Israel's true intentions. Say one thing, do another, standard practice in its quest for regional hegemony, a Greater Israel, and Jewish only exclusively, one settlement expansion and bulldozed home at a time. 

Also Palestine's historic Mamilla cemetery in Jerusalem, its previously untouched graves with roots from the 7th century, Israel's Religious Affairs Ministry (in 1948) recognizing it as "one of the most prominent Muslim cemeteries, where Muslim scholars and seventy thousand Muslim warriors" led by Saladin, the first Egyptian Ayyubid Sultan/ opposition leader against the Franks and other Levant European Crusaders, recaptured Jerusalem in the Battle of Hattin. "Israel will always protect and respect this site." Another promise, another broken. 

The plan now calls for Jewish developments to destroy it along with thousands of Palestinian homes and property, Judaization to replace them. The process continues relentlessly, including the Separation Wall, closed military zones, Jewish only infrastructure, and seized Palestinian farmland - to establish "irreversible facts on the ground," putting a lie to serious peace and reconciliation efforts, ideas not in Israel's vocabulary and practically obscene for Netanyahu, a man who abhors everything not Jewish. 

Peace Now stands opposed, saying a settlement moratorium is "for Israel's own best interests, regardless of what is happening, or not happening, with regards to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. (It wants it) extended with no more game-playing....without adding any new exceptions or loopholes, (including) enforcement to stop settlers who" keep building illegally. "Otherwise, the entire debate....is little more than empty words," another Israeli specialty.