The venerable Israeli left-wing organisation Peace Now has lost a lot of its steam in recent years.
The failure of the Oslo process and other diplomatic initiatives has led to public apathy over the group's efforts to push for a two-state solution.
The announcement put out by Peace Now last week - two hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet President Barack Obama in the White House - that the Jerusalem municipality had finalised plans to build 2,610 new homes in the neighbourhood of Givat Hamatos, across the pre-1967 border, catapulted them back onto centre-stage.
The announcement did not overshadow the meeting - Mr Netanyahu repeated his commitment to a two-state solution in his remarks to the press before the doors were closed, and Mr Obama only mentioned the settlement issue briefly, during the meeting itself.
