In his first term in office, President Obama targeted Israel’s settlement activity with a vengeance, like no one before him did. He continued American policy of calling them “illegitimate” whatever that means, rather than illegal which was the term of choice put forward by the UN and the EU representatives. But he went further and forced PM Netanyahu to agree to a nine month construction freeze to enable negotiations to take place. This wasn’t enough to induce Abbas to enter negotiations until the last weeks of the freeze. Ultimately all his efforts to bring about a settlement failed. It was generally accepted that his insistence on making the freezing of settlement construction the centerpiece of his efforts was largely to blame for their failure.
