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As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Israel revealed, the Obama administration’s half-hearted policy on settlements in the occupied territories is a bust.Anxious to placate hawkish critics at home and in Israel, Clinton declared Prime Minister Netanyahu’s settlement slowdown an "unprecedented" gesture. In reality, it was a calculated show of defiance against Washington’s callfor a settlement freeze. Clinton’s retreat provoked harsh reactions from Arab governments throughout the region, prompting a hasty retreat in which she stressed that Israel’s slowdown of settlement construction was not enough. But the damage was done. The episode undermined White House credibility and displayed the enormous constraints on emocratic opposition to Israeli policies.Even...