The Israelis seem to be destroying all hope of Peace with Palestinians.

Steve Clemons offers a report from Palestine. He spoke briefly with Mustafa Barghouti

...a former doctor turned political leader who previously ran for the presidency of Palestine. He now heads the Palestinian National Initiative and is an advocate of non-violent resistance against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The information is not good.

...particularly disturbing was his comment that road blocks and barriers to movement before the Annapolis process started number 521. Today, there are 607. Settlements are growing at a faster pace after Annapolis than before. This is wrong.

These trends are destroying the possibilities of peace in the Middle East -- and they are undermining America's national interests as well as Israel's own security situation.

The settlement movement appears to be a group of Israeli religious extremists who want to do their best to prevent any resolution of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict and are trying to take control of all of the Palestinian lands they can prior to any negotiations.

That's not to say that there are not equally committed extremists on the Palestinian side who still want to destroy all of Israel. But neither side is going to dislodge or destroy the other. As long as the extremists on both sides set the agenda, there will be war between them. Most people on both sides really just want what all sane humans want - a decent life and the opportunity to raise their families. That isn't going to happen until both sides get serious about negotiations. More settlements are a large step away from that.