Israel has issued another round of permits allowing Palestinians to work within the country’s 1949 armistice lines, part of a series of gestures designed to bolster U.S.-backed peace negotiations.

The additional 5,000 permits come amid Palestinian moves that, in a certain sense, are the exact opposite of confidence building measures:

One cabinet source said, however, that because of annoyance at the Palestinians for spurring the Europeans on regarding their guidelines sanctioning Israeli entities beyond the pre-1967 lines, wording in the resolution saying it was done “within the framework of the negotiations with the Palestinians and as part of a willingness to assist the Palestinian economy” was taken out.

“While we take a step that will help the Palestinian economy, they continue to call for a total boycott of settlement goods and industry – something that hurts them since they are employed in that industry – and are behind the calls in Europe for stiffer economic sanctions against settlements,” the source said.

Israeli negotiators have also in recent days called on Palestinian negotiators to stop leaking details of talks. Secretary of State John Kerry had emphasized at the beginning of the talks that secrecy would be crucial in navigating both parties to a negotiated solution, and – again – persistent leaking from the Palestinian side is being taken as the exact opposite of that.

[Photo: U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv / Flickr]