Wednesday night, Israeli settlers and their supporters will pack the end of Jerusalem ’s Balfor Street and passionately demonstrate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for a 10 month construction freeze in the West Bank Settlements.  When they cry to the cameras that the Prime Minister is forsaking the people who brought him to power, God and the history of the Jewish people, remember this: The whole thing is a stage and everyone except Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a player.

First of all, there is no construction freeze, at least not if you reference the definition in Mike’s dictionary of common sense.

Construction freeze: when you stop building stuff.

In this case, that will never happen. What the Prime Minister actually demanded is that no new construction permits be issued for Israeli housing in West bank settlements for 10 months.  Construction will continue in the 3,000 units already underway.  Bulldozers never stop.  Bricklayers show up for work everyday during the 10 month construction freeze and build on land that Palestinians want for a future state.  Those housing units will not be completed by the end of the 10 months. However, once the period has passed Netanyahu has made it clear, Israel will resume construction.

And there you have the construction freeze that never was.

Yet, the settlers are still demonstrating. They block roads. They clash with police protecting building inspectors trying to gain access to the settlements. The scene has been repeating and will continue to repeat. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s advisor Raanan Gissen said, “In the next 2 months you can expect a lot of commotion and little motion.” Palestinian Parliament member Dr.Mustafa Barghouti said, “They are trying to make it look like there is a real settlement freeze, when there isn’t.”

The goal of the settlers is to intimidate their own leaders. They want to show politicians how strongly they react to the freeze that isn’t a freeze, then make them think long and hard before discussing the real thing.  They want politicians to quake with fear before ever considering a pullout from even the smallest hilltop trailer park in the West Bank .  The way Barghouti sees it, “The Israeli Government is held hostage to the will of the settlers.”

At the moment, this all works in favor of the Netanyahu Government.  Remember, his call for a freeze is primarily in response to pressure from US President Barack Obama, who stood up in Cairo and demanded a halt to West Bank construction.  Now, television cameras capture images of traditionally, dressed settler women screaming while being dragged to the ground by Israeli police.  Gissen says, “The pictures that show him enforcing the law are very good because he can show those to Washington .  He can show his difficulties in satisfying the wishes of the US President.”   Each and every demonstration can be used by Netanyahu as support for an argument about the sacrifices he is making in the quest for peace. Barghouti says, “He is playing a game to reduce international pressure.”

The only loser in this game is the Palestinian President. Abbas stuck his neck out too far when he jumped on board with the President Obama’s call for a freeze. Gissen says, “The blame should be placed on President Obama, who climbed a very tall tree.”  President Abbas climbed it with him issuing his ultimatum: no peace talks without a settlement freeze.

The real question now is if President Abbas has a way down. Netanyahu is calling for peace talks, but Abbas is refusing while Israeli diggers are plowing up earth that his constituents want for a homeland.  This puts Netanyahu in position to paint the Palestinians as the obstacle. “It appears that the Palestinians have adopted a strategy of delaying negotiations with Israel, and this is in order to refrain from meeting the demands of Israel and the international community, which require compromises on the Palestinian side,” Netanyahu told his cabinet.

Observers on the Israeli side think Abbas should call Netanyahu’s bluff, buckle on his ultimatum and agree to talks. If he doesn’t the stalemate continues and the Islamic radicals get stronger. “He’s playing Hamas and Iran ’s game,” says Gissen.

On the Palestinian side, observers think Abbas is too weak and the last thing he should do is back down in the face of some slick political maneuvering. “If he does, that means Netanyahu succeeded in bluffing the world,” says Barghouti.