Only hours before U.S. president Barack Obama’s March 3, 2014 White House meeting with Israel prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported that the number of construction starts in West Bank settlements had more than doubled in 2013 to 2,534 units, which is more construction than took place in Tel Aviv. Close to 6 percent of all new construction last year was located in  West Bank settlements. In absolute terms, the number was the highest in a decade. In addition, there were more housing starts in Jerusalem in 2013 than anyplace in Israel. Most of this new construction is located in the settlement areas of East Jerusalem, almost doubling the settlements’ share of national construction.