Yes, decisions planned for Dec were help back. Interesting too that the pro settlement article you posted above uses these same delays as part of its attempt to cast the settlements in a better light, when it’s far more likely that the authorities simply knew that they could be much less restrained if they waited. Love it when people obfuscate to complain about obfuscation.

I saw that. Either CNN or Fox was saying they deliberately waited until Trump was president before announcing it as well.

I agree. Terminology should be accurate. But I feel like the term “Settlement” has a meaning in Israel that would surprise many.

I think the term “Settlement” is one that from an outsider’s pov is misleading. Just based on the name, I would expect a Settlement to be geographically contiguous, including in the way it’s built. I feel like the Israeli government can’t really expect people to think other than that there are a lot more Settlements than there are legally because of how they’re built. It’s a bit disingenuous imo.

Also, I’ve never heard it said there are “thousands” of Settlements. However, I’ve also always tried to get my information from sources I think will at least try to be fair. A lot of the anti-Israeli sentiment Malgorzata recounts, for example, I’ve simply never come across and wouldn’t believe if I did (without confirmation from a reliable source).

However I know there are protests against Hamas in both the West Bank and Gaza for their poor governance and we never see them on our screens. And if we do, the blame is placed solely with Israel. It’s all but impossible to work out what’s really going on from a distance.

No question journos should get their terminology right and report events accurately. That they don’t only adds to the difficulties of understanding this situation. But the implication that therefore there is no issue with growing numbers of Israeli’s in occupied land is what is the most deliberately misleading. I’ve never really given much thought to the distinction and would have said the issue was mainly about the increasing number of people rather than settlements anyway. Interestingly, the same PeaceNow link referred to here includes a chart at the end showing the growth in settlers in nearly a straight line from the late 1970’s until now.

http://daledamos.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/if-israel-has-not-been-building.html

NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully hits the nail on the head: “The focal point for much of the critics’ anger is the direct call for a halt to the settlements. But that call by the council was clear and deliberate because continuing settlement growth at anything like the current rate will render the two state solution a purely academic concept. There will be nothing left to negotiate.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11780250

If I’ve ever heard any of those myths, I’ve forgotten them. As a student of medieval British and European history I came across a lot of anti-Semitism though. Stories of Jews eating babies etc. They were often blamed for spreading the plague. Riots that ended with a Jews being murdered were common. The stories were ridiculous and said far more about the people who spread them. It always surprises me what people will believe. But then billions believe the various myths of their religion.