I’ve often said — and I’ve probably written it more often — that the Netanyahu government is openly and unabashedly working against any possible peace process with the Palestinians and that the policies that this government tends to favor are not in the best interest of the Israeli people, especially in the long run. Here’s the latest in a long line of such policies:

On Tuesday, Netanyahu and his forum of eight senior ministers decided to initiate a new wave of settlement construction in the West Bank, as part of a wider set of sanctions Israel decided to impose on the Palestinian Authority after it was accepted to UNESCO as a member on Monday.

Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday that the construction of 2,000 housing units planned in East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion, and Ma’aleh Adumim should be expedited.

At some point, perhaps at some distance removed from where we are today, people will look back and note that it was this government, more than any other, that officially turned its back on both peace and a two-state solution as a matter of policy. It’s impossible for the Netanyahu government to continue to say, as it has long said, that it desires a real partner for peace and that it is simply unable to find such a partner on the Palestinian side. Or, at least, it is impossible for anyone to take seriously such a claim when that same government pursues policies such as this one.

If a two-state solution is the only acceptable solution for Israel, then make two states and be done with it.