A stop to settlement activities in Palestinian territories is a reasonable demand, and the Palestinians could naturally insist on it in the negotiations. But making a settlement freeze a precondition for negotiations was obviously unacceptable to the Israeli government, which maintained that no preconditions for negotiations should be set.
结果，对这些基本问题不甚了解的米歇尔一开始就走错了步调，在奥巴马的鼓动下，他答应了巴勒斯坦人停止以色列继续兴建西岸定居点的要求，而且是在双方谈判开始之前。禁止在巴勒斯坦领土上兴建犹太人定居点的要求是合理的，而巴勒斯坦人自然也会在谈判中坚持这一点。但如果将其作为谈判前提的话，以色列政府肯定不能接受，这自然也意味着双方谈判不应附加有任何前提条件。