HILL IN A FIG LEAF:

East Jerusalem construction policy unchanged (AMY TEIBEL, 03/21/10, AP)

It was not clear what Netanyahu’s declared refusal to budge on east Jerusalem — the territory that lies at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — would mean for future relations with Washington and the rest of the international community.

Netanyahu’s moves go nowhere near the U.S. demand to cancel a major new housing project at the heart of the row, but apparently he has offered enough to prompt U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to call them “useful and productive” and dispatch an envoy back to the region this week.