Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu returns to Israel on Thursday from a series of meetings in Rome and Paris. Settlements are a source of tension. Nearly all of the leaders with whom Netanyahu met told him that Israel must cease Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. They did not mention Arab construction in these areas.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Netanyahu that he is speaking “as your friend,” and instructed him, "You must conduct confidence-building measures, and the first must be the absolute freeze on construction in the settlements." Similarly, Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said, “A freeze on settlements is important.”

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