Last week, a U.S. State Department spokesman condemned an Israeli decision to allow the construction of residences in Jerusalem, stating that “we strongly oppose settlement activity.” But, write the editors of the Jerusalem Post, this decision by no means qualifies as “settlement activity”:

If there is to be a resolution to the conflict between the Jewish state and a putative Palestinian one, writes Jonathan Michanie, it won’t start with drawing lines on maps or restrictions on where Jews can build houses, but with the Palestinian Authority (PA) abandoning its official anti-Semitism. The PA can, in this regard, learn much from those Arab nations that have recently made peace with Israel: