After a high-profile spat between the US and Israel over settlement construction in East Jerusalem, the US has returned their envoy to the region, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to restart talks. We don’t exactly know what Netanyahu offered outside of “trust-building measures”:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a series of “trust-building measures” to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

Mr Netanyahu outlined the steps in a telephone call with the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, although details have not yet been made public.

His office said they represented a “real effort” to aid US peace efforts.

The Guardian calls it a climbdown for Netanyahu. They surmise that Netanyahu gave up something like “easing Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from more parts of the West Bank and the release of Palestinian prisoners.” And…

He did not announce, as the US had demanded, a freeze on the construction of Jewish homes in Ramat Shlomo, in East Jerusalem, the key point at issue.

But diplomats in Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem said Netanyahu had given a private promise that there will be a temporary freeze on any new construction. The work, while not cancelled, is to be postponed for several years.

If this is true, it shows just how Netanyahu and his right-wing faction’s belligerence blew up in their face completely. His Likud party has been badly damaged by this exchange, and Obama is more popular in Israel than Netanyahu. What’s more, even a plurality of Americans have rallied around the President on the settlements issue, after the insult of announcing more construction on the eve of a Vice-Presidential visit.

Spencer Ackerman adds:

Netanyahu’s obstructionism could be pushing the administration into a more intensified phase of diplomatic effort on Mideast peacemaking, and one that benefits the Palestinians more than the Netanyahu government. According to The New York Times, the Obama team is considering putting forward its own peace plan — which would effectively dare Netanyahu to oppose it. Key graf:

After Washington condemned the housing announcement, Mr. Netanyahu apologized for its timing, but has so far not responded to American demands to rescind the building plan. The series of tense, back-channel interchanges between the two governments, in the words of one administration official, demonstrated to White House officials that “the current status quo won’t work, and won’t get us anywhere.”

Indeed, Hillary Clinton has confirmed that the settlement spat gave the US the leverage to force the peace process back on track. And when you see committed pro-Israel lawmakers like Howard Berman admit that “The Administration had real justification for being upset with the timing of the settlements announcement,” as he did in a statement, you realize that Israel massively overplayed their hand on this.