Unfortunately Israel doesn't consider East Jerusalem or any of the "Greater Jerusalem Municipality" as settlements. They were annexed, and are thus viewed as lawful land to build on. So this announcement is really worthless.

The whole conversation is Kafkaesque to begin with, just the fact that they declare a moratorium on building in the West Bank settlements implies that they have the authority to start again when they wish (which is absurd). And while they never require any excuse, all they need to do is wait for some poor Palestinian to break under the pressure and do something stupid, and then they have public support to build more settlements "for security". Meanwhile, years pass, and the settlements gain legitimacy. That's the plan, just let time and generations pass. Soon, they become impossible to remove (if it's not already too late).

Meanwhile the U.S. whimpers an objection (when we do anything) but keep vetoing UN resolutions and simultaneously we give Israel ungodly amounts of foreign aid and military financing to prop up this insanity. Sadly, America, like Israel, is horrendously short sighted.

israel is trying again to cheat the ''goyiim''. east jerusalem has been unilaterally annnexed by israel so according to international law all jewish neighborhoods are illegitimate. the palestinians probably will not consent to ''freezing'' without freezing in east jerusalem,which is part of the west bank

It is the greatest pity that Palestinian activists call "East Jerusalem" "part of the West Bank..." they should certainly know that "East Jerusalem" WAS Jerusalem before "West Jerusalem" was built.

And then Arabs annexed it.
Then we took it back.
And now they want to annex it again.

My sister's husband has refused either military service or physical residence in the West Bank.

He does live in the alleged "settlement" of
Gilo,JERUSALEM.
He does not believe that Jews in ANY part of Jerusalem are "in the West Bank."

I do not buy it either.
Few Jews do believe it.

Not all Gentiles buy it:

My neighbors do not.

@Louise Esther Rothstein
By your logic, Israel has the right to occupy and take all the land that once belonged to the kingdom of David, since all that was Israel before it was taken by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Europeans, Turks, and the Europeans again. But come on, Israel took it from others before it as well, so it doesn't have any more of a right to the land in a "historic" sense, than any of the other groups that later took it from Israel. It's one of many that took it from many others. So you can base your argument on that sort of a historical argument, "it used to be ours."

And the fact that you and your acquaintances don't consider Gilo and East Jerusalem part of the West Bank is really irrelevant to the facts. It just goes to show how easy it is to rewrite history, if you tell people a lie long enough, they'll believe it.

What we are talking about is modern history, and the question is one of 1948, partition, and subsequent wars and colonization. 1948 is the starting point of Israel, and so the 1948 borders (even though they represented an injustice to the Palestinian people) are recognized as the fairest partition that we can establish. And so when we say East Jerusalem is part of the West Bank, that is the truth. The West Bank, being the part of the partition that belonged to the Palestinians after 1948. No amount of annexing and social acceptance will change this fact.

We live in a time when we no longer tolerate imperialism and colonization. The world has changed (thankfully) and no one should want to go back to that old barbaric way of life, where the strongest take what they can. That's not just, and as the Jews of all people know, it's only a matter of time, before someone stronger than you comes along and takes what they want from you. That is not the type of world we want to live in. And you better help establish a just society and solidify international law, while you are strong, so that when a time comes and you are weak, you will be able to appeal to international law and expect justice to be enforced for your cause as well.

Why can't people who have been victims see when they are victimizing others? It's so appalling.