Will the U.S. Stop Treating Settlement as a PR Problem?

Gershom Gorenberg says that George Mitchell's visit to Israel to discuss settlements doesn't mean the U.S. is taking the issue seriously:

In the summer of 1974, the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv received a cable from the State Department. The main office was concerned about press reports that Israel intended to expand settlements in the occupied territories. The cable complained of the "difficulties such publicity generates in U.S.-Arab relations." The reports "were most unhelpful to Middle East peace efforts." Foggy Bottom therefore wanted to know how Israel's Labor government "might be induced to turn off public comments on expanding settlements."

Two days later, Ambassador Kenneth Keating cabled back. He'd talked to Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, who said he was about to meet with the editors of the country's newspapers. Allon promised to ask them to play down "sensitive issues" connected to the negotiations that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was conducting between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Allon kindly "volunteered to add settlement to his list" of subjects to hush up, Keating wrote. The secretary could rest easy.

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