Amid the fanfare and illusion of progress created by the resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) – talks whose main motive appears to be to avoid blame for embarrassing US Secretary of State John Kerry – the relentless expansion and consolidation of the Israeli occupation continues unabated.

Today the Israeli news website Ynet reported that a record number of settlements, including four settlements once considered illegal under Israeli law (all settlements are illegal under international law) had been included in the Israeli national priority spending list. “A record number of 90 settlements were included in a list of more than 600 towns and communities eligible for state benefits, among them several new settlements once considered illegal,” it said.

According Ynet, during the cabinet meeting an argument broke out between Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and the settler Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, with Livni arguing that “dangerous” communities should not be put on the list. But when it came to the crunch the list passed the cabinet vote without opposition. Livni, who also heads the Israeli team in the latest round of talks with the Palestinians, could not even bring herself to vote against the move, choosing to join three other ministers in abstaining.

What more proof do the idiots leading the PA need to convince themselves that the Kerry-brokered spectacle will achieve precisely what the other 20 years of talks have achieved: more Jewish colonies, more occupation and more poverty and despair for the Palestinians.