movement - from the messianic-nationalistic "Gush Emunim" to the "leftist" United Kibbutz Movement. The first settlers were supported by most politicians, left and right, from Yigal Alon (the Jewish settlement in Hebron) to Shimon Peres (the Kedumim settlement).
51 The fact that all governments of Israel cultivated and advanced the settlements, albeit to different extents, proves that the urge to implant new settlements was particular to no specific ideological camp and extended to the entire Zionist Movement. The impression that only a small minority has been driving the settlement activity forward is an illusion. Only an intense effort of all parts of the government, including all ministries, from 1967 onwards, could have produced the legislative, strategic and budgetary infrastructure required for such a long-lasting and expensive endeavor.
52 The legislative infrastructure operates on the misleading assumption that the Occupation Authority is the owner of "government-owned lands", although these are the essential land reserves of the Palestinian population. It goes without saying that the settlement activity contravenes international law.
53 The dispute between the proponents of "Greater Israel" and those of "Territorial Compromise" is essentially a dispute about the way to achieve the shared basic Zionist aspiration: a homogenous Jewish State in as large a territory as possible, but without a "ticking demographic bomb". The proponents of "compromise" emphasize the demographic issue and want to prevent the inclusion of the Palestinian population in the Israeli state.
The urge to implant new settlements was particular to no specific ideological camp and extended to the entire Zionist movement. It was an intense effort of all parts of the government.