Israel for sure has a rough and tumble political world. So it’s no surprise that with an eye toward keeping the far right of the governing coalition satisfied, Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s office announced Monday – hours before his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama—that a new settlement was in the works on the West Bank.

Mind you, I’m a Bibi fan this time around. I think he’s been not only practical in most policies to date, but done so without the naiveté that stained his first tenure at the top from 1996-1999. But not on this one.

So it was that the government of Israel announced it would soon begin construction on 20 housing units in Maskiot, a former army outpost. Actually, plans for the settlement have been on the books for three years but then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz backed down. Back then, strong U.S. opposition led to the plans being abandoned. That should again be the case here, too. In fact, Bibi you should blame this on the U.S. That’s a good cover for you.

That’s because U.S. government officials have conceded in recent years that there will be “natural growth” of existing settlements. So one is hard pressed as to the need to start a new one, particularly as this is a well-known lightening rod issue.

Maskiot is intended to house former residents of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. Those residences were destroyed by the Israeli army in August 2005 in a planned evacuation of the area. The Government of Israel has indeed performed poorly – to be polite—in its repeated vow to provide new residences for those former Gaza settlers. However, that is no reason to go ahead with a new settlement now, especially when other settlements have additional housing being constructed, such as around the Jerusalem suburb of Ma’aleh Adumim.

Bibi, you’re a smart guy. Now you need to act that way.