With West focused on Iran, Netanyahu moves to expand Israeli settlements

Both the outposts and the more established settlements like Har Homa are seen as illegal by the international community for violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, a stance Israel rejects.

In Mr. Alpher's view, Netanyahu's calculations are straightforward: pleasing his right-wing core constituency and satisfying his own ideological inclinations on the one hand while avoiding severe international condemnations on the other. Because Netanyahu likely does not need to take the latter factor into account  until at least after the US election, Mr. Alpher and other analysts argue, a continuation of the heightened settlement activity announced last week is likely during the months ahead.

''Undoubtedly the focus on Iran also helps him to do what he wants in the West Bank, '' Alpher adds.

Akiva Eldar, a columnist for the dovish Haaretz newspaper, sums up Netanyahu's intention as being ''to build as much as possible while paying lip-service to the two-state solution.''

''He wants to use this time to expand the settlements and to encourage more and more building,'' Eldar says.

Israeli officials deny this, saying Netanyahu wants to pursue a two-state compromise but that the Palestinians refuse to come to the bargaining table.

'All of us will pay a price' for settlement expansion

Netanyahu said in an interview published in Maariv newspaper Friday that an agreement with the Palestinians is important so that Israel can remain a Jewish state and avert becoming a binational one that includes the large Palestinian population of the West Bank.

But he stressed that such an agreement wouldn't be able to solve a larger problem of mounting hostility in the region toward Israel resulting from the post-Arab Spring gains by Islamic fundamentalists in Egypt and elsewhere. In remarks to the Knesset late last year, Netanyahu said explicitly that concessions to the Palestinians were unwise during a period of instability in the region. ''We can't know who will end up with any piece of territory we give up,'' he said.

Netanyahu told Maariv that his vision for settlement involves ''safeguarding the large settlement blocs,'' retaining ''areas of religious-national significance to our people,'' and keeping areas where Israel has a security interest.

Although this would appear to leave the Palestinians with little for their state, Yigal Palmor, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, says Netanyahu is open to discussing the future of settlements with the Palestinians. ''If they really want to do something about settlements, they need to enter negotiations and address it in the framework of negotiations,'' Mr. Palmor says.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has made Israel's freezing of settlement construction a precondition for resuming talks, something Israel rejects.

In the view of Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib, only an active US role can stem Israeli settlement and save the two-state solution. ''It is true that America is preoccupied with elections and Israel is taking advantage of that, but all of us will pay a price for closing an eye to the continued Israeli violations, especially the expansion of settlements,'' he says

In Ulpana, resident Didi Dickstein, a father of two, says Netanyahu's statement of support is important, but that he still fears the demolitions may occur. A former soldier in army intelligence and a business administration major, he says those living in Ulpana are educators and employees of high-tech companies, not the stereotypical radical youths of some other outposts. ''We are not people who look for confrontations or to take over anything,'' he says.

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