Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that over the past decade, the settler population in the West Bank has grown by 112,000 (from 244,000 to 356,000). Figures from Peace Now show that in the same period, the illegal outposts gained 9,000 more residents – about three times their population 10 years ago. More than half of the growth occurred during the time when Livni and Herzog bore ministerial responsibility for this gross violation of Israeli and international law.

The Kadima/Hatnuah leader and the Labor Party and Zionist Union chairman were also both partly responsible for allowing hundreds of millions of shekels to flow to the settlements via the leaky pipe known as the “settlement division,” which suddenly became the national punching bag. According to the outpost report (presented a decade ago), the division “mainly erected many unauthorized outposts, without approval from the authorized political officials.”

The report also said that this systematic illegal activity, including the theft of private lands, began in the mid-1990s, apparently inspired “by various housing ministers, whether they turned a blind eye or offered support and encouragement.”

Every Israeli government since 2005 has ignored the report’s unequivocal recommendation to clip the wings of the division, especially its budget, which continues to fund the effort to wreck peace. The last finance minister, Yair Lapid, was also quite generous to the constituents of his “brother” Naftali Bennett. Yesh Atid’s proposal to close down the division only hit the headlines after an investigation was launched and (alleged) corruption was revealed in Yisrael Beitenu, ostensibly leading to officials in this organization.

Regretfully, the only Zionist party whose leaders dare to consistently say loud and clear that the plans to expand the settlements are no less, or even more, a threat to the Zionist enterprise as the Iranian nuclear program is now fighting for its life.

It’s no wonder that Herzog and Livni are trying to keep the settlements issue out of the spotlight in this election campaign. When it comes to the failures to treat this terminal illness, which is attacking the bleeding peace process and gobbling up public funds, they bear their share of the blame. Can Herzog and Livni be trusted not to sit once again in a government that will nurture the criminals of the outposts and subsidize the enemies of peace?

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.646432

they all say only new growth "within the settlement blocs" but that's what everyone says and has been saying the whole time and BTW when is a 400% increase in population over a 21 year period considered "natural growth" ?

So 400% over 21 years is quite possible IMO.

It's this fact combined with a relatively high birth rate among secular Israelis that lays to rest the claim that there is a Arab demographic time bomb happening in Israel.

which is the subject here a 400% increase in the settler population is not natural

But if that growth was virtually all within the major settlement blocks who cares?

I said OPT

Under International Law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, settling land seized in a conflict is illegal, as is any use of the land or its resources.
When land is seized, the occupying power has a legal obligation to respect the lives and well being of the occupied people.

Israel is in violation of the law and refuses to follow any legal requirements of an occupying power. There are no legal settlements, only illegal settlements of varying sizes and age.

The settlements can only be seen as a dispossession of the Palestinian people in favor of Israeli settlers. This policy does not change no matter which party or coalition has power.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/middleeast/un-panel-says-israeli-settlement-policy-violates-law.html?_r=0

...is my signature guillaumeb.

Its from here :

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html

and if my response was taken by you as criticism the fault is mine. My question/statement was a rhetorical one and posed because there are some at DU who take a different view.

BTW the NYT has a very educational article out regarding the settlements . ...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/12/world/middleeast/netanyahu-west-bank-settlements-israel-election.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=2

Well worth the read .

But how does information like this play in the US, where both major parties compete to prove their love for Israel?

How does this type of information play at DU where this group seems somewhat evenly divided between unconditional support for Israel and a more nuanced view?
The article quoted Netanyahu about the settlement issue and on his conception of the problem. I found the two quotes here very illuminating:
Quote 1)
“From 1920, when this conflict effectively began, until 1967, there wasn’t a single Israeli settlement or a single Israeli soldier in the territories, and yet this conflict raged,” he said in an October interview with Bloomberg View. “What was that conflict about? It was about the persistent refusal to recognize a Jewish state, before it was established and after it was established.”

This quote establishes Netanyahu's view of Israel as an explicitly Jewish state. He does not say an exclusively Jewish state but his actions say what his words here do not. No mention of the actual history of the region, just a blanket condemnation of supposed Palestinian intransigence.
Quite 2)
“What is preventing a solution to the conflict is the refusal to recognize Israel as the state for the Jewish people, certainly not building in Gilo," Mr. Netanyahu said in 2013, referring to a Jerusalem neighborhood near Har Homa. “Does anyone think that Gilo will not stay as part of Israel?”

Again, reinforcing the idea of Israel as a Jewish state, with boundaries to be determined by the Israelis.

How can negotiations take place when one side will concede nothing?