first settlers were supported by most politicians, left and right, from Yigal Alon (advocate of 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 homogeneous 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 "Greater Israel" adherents place the emphasis on the geographic issue and believe-privately or publicly-that it is possible to expel the non-Jewish population from the country (code name: "Transfer").
54. The general staff of the Israeli army played an important role in the planning and building of the settlements. It created the map of the settlements (identified with Ariel Sharon): blocs of settlements and bypass roads along lateral and longitudinal axes, chopping the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into pieces and imprisoning the Palestinians in isolated enclaves, each of which is surrounded by settlements and the occupation forces.
55. The Palestinians employed several methods of resistance, mainly raids across the Jordanian and Lebanese borders and attacks inside Israel and throughout the world. These acts are considered "terror" by Israelis, while the Palestinians see them as the legitimate resistance of an occupied people. While the Israelis considered the PLO leadership, headed by Yassir Arafat, as a