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President Obama has been publicly firm in his position that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), must halt before the peace process can move forward. The settlements are probably illegal (though, see this op-ed for a contrary view), but some Israeli officials claim they had an unofficial understanding that the Bush administration would look the other way. No such deal apperars to be in place with Obama, setting up a possible rift between the United States and Israel. One member of the right-wing Israeli Likud party says bring it on:

“JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel stands ready to risk a protracted rift with Washington over U.S. demands to stop construction in East Jerusalem and other settlements, a key right-wing Israeli lawmaker said in an interview on Monday.

Tzipi Hotovely of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said the Israeli leader could face dissent from within the ranks of his own faction if he backed down and agreed to even a partial freeze in settlement building in occupied land.”

We’ll see whether Obama changes his tune when the United States Congress–arguably a more pro-Israel legislative body than the Knesset, starts to get phone calls from angry constituents and lobbyists.