If Barack Obama had stuck to his demand of a freeze on all new settlement building, there is no way Israel could have ignored his push for a dialogue in the Arab Israeli conflict. However, by abandoning his stand, he gave Israel an understanding that it can do whatever it likes and would get away with it. This was amply demonstrated when the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon happily told the Public Radio "There is no question that the US is our staunchest friend and that Israel's firm stance on its positions has paid off". No wonder, the Israeli Interior Ministry has approved construction of 900 new units in East Jerusalem. The superpower USA is unique in being just about the only country in the world that pays huge amounts to Israel yet feels none the worse for being spurned, indeed snubbed, when it makes a push for the Middle East peace process. The former Finnish President, an international peacemaker and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisari explained the view of all peaceniks when he said "How can we, year after year, seriously say that we are trying to reach a solution when we aren't. I am ashamed I have to admit that". Left to themselves, held hostage by various hawks, and given the firm understanding by weak US leaders that they can get away with anything, successive Israeli leaders have been unable to make the bold decisions they are required to do to make peace. For their survival, they find it ever more convenient to continue the present pattern of being frozen in time. When they move at all, they do so only to add a new brick or two to the settlements and the Wall that makes a viable Palestinian state impossible. -S.R.H. HASHMI, Karachi, November 18.