After the announcement this week to build 1,600 new apartments in East Jerusalem, this should not come as a surprise. Why bother when games like that are being played?
The decision to pull out, announced in Cairo by Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, represents a major setback to months of diplomacy by the US administration and comes after the US vice-president, Joe Biden, delivered an unusually strong rebuke to Israel.
Amr Moussa said he had been told by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that even this low-key process of so-called "proximity talks" could not start unless Israel stopped expanding its settlements.
"The Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Moussa said.
