Keith A: "Remember, this dispute was engineered by the Palestinian movement.
US is only responding to it."


That is certainly a perspective.

I'm more inclined to agree with Baskin's assessment in the Jerusalem Post which I previously linked to on this thread - but I'm not here to 'win' any arguments on the matter:


"The Palestinian logic was soundly based on their assessment that there was no possibility of reaching a negotiated agreement with the current government of Israel. Every day, Israeli settlement building progressed, taking away more land from what they believe is part of the future Palestinian state. More than 18 years of failed peace processes convinced them that they need to create a "game changer" so that they could preserve the chances for creating a real Palestinian state in the future."