Any criticism of Israel is 'inflammatory'

So Nick Clegg over in London has stirred up the hornet's nest by criticizing Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Nick Clegg risks damaging peace process over 'inflammatory' Israel settlement remarks - Telegraph: "During an official visit to London, Danny Ayalon offered a hard-hitting response to the Deputy Prime Minister's statement on Monday that Israel's construction of settlements on occupied land amounted to "deliberate vandalism".
Mr Ayalon told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Clegg's intervention had been "gratuitous", adding: "I think it was ill-informed, I think it is unfortunate, and mostly it is damaging, because not only is it not true, but it gives the Palestinians more excuses to raise the bar of preconditions, and not to negotiate freely."
The Palestinian Authority has declined to reopen formal peace talks unless Israel halts the expansion of settlements. Israel, for its part, wants negotiations to start without preconditions. This impasse has paralysed the peace process since a partial and temporary freeze on settlement activity expired in 2010."

He has violated the cardinal rule of diplomacy in the wacky world: never criticize the Israelis. No matter what they do, or to whom.

Actually, Clegg would've been more honest if he had stated the obvious, which is that the Israelis do not seek to come to terms with the Palestinians under any circumstances. They may gnash teeth about how beset and beleaguered they are by a sea of antagonists arrayed against them, but that's the result of their own provocations and sneering response to any and all overtures toward a peaceful settlement.

The bottom line is that the Zionists have an expansive territorial agenda, and will not settle for less than the whole nine yards. There's no accommodation with those who talk in ultimatums.