Olmert Backs Down From New Construction

Negotiations are continuing--which means Olmert will have to make more concessions to keep pace:

There will be no new building tenders issued for construction in West Bank settlements and the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Thursday during a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams in Jerusalem, Army Radio reported.

The Har Homa expansion has been a major stumbling block in the peace process which was kick-started at the Annapolis conference, and while the prime minister vowed that no new tenders would be issued for the east Jerusalem neighborhood, he insisted that tenders already approved could not be canceled.

Only because Abbas hasn't put his foot down yet.

These days, anything can be counted on as being positive:

Army Radio gave an even more optimistic account of the talks, saying that the two sides agreed to leave the Har Homa issue behind them and continue with negotiations toward a final settlement.

According to that logic, w?hy not just go ahead, give them the state, and work out all the details afterwards

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