[Goater]

The vast majority of people that were forced out of their homes in Gaza by the Israeli government are being resettled inside Israel proper. The few that have moved to the West Bank have mainly settled into already established settlements. I am sure a few have also set up new "illegal" settlements but this would be no more than a few caravans, etc... There is no organised official resettlement of Gaza Jews into new West Bank settlements.

I personally agree that there should be no more settlement in the West Bank but the status of what is there already can only be determined by a bilateral peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

The settlement population of course has been increasing - it was official governement policy for decades under both labour and likud. The rate of increase has significantly slowed now. Anyway, i dont want to derail this thread with an in depth discussion of this.

For me it comes down to this - all the Palestinians have to do is recognise Israel, renounce the right of return and sit down to talk in good faith. With the current government im sure they would get a very good deal.

As for the "apartheid" nonesense, not sure what to say. Inside Israel proper, im sure you are well aware that arabs have full rights. Have you ever been to a hospital in Israel? Its the best way to see how dishonest the apartheid statements are. As for the occupied territitories, well thats a different story. Its effectively a war situation and comparisons to apartheid are inapplicable.

In any case, I agree with you that any expansion should stop and im all for a 2 state solution. However, i dont think this is a possibility due to the choices of the Palestinians and the negative interference of Egypt, Syria, Iran and others. In my opinion, as soon as the surrounding countries want peace with Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state, this would happen very quickly. Unfortunately, it is not in the interests of many arab countries to end the conflict with Israel. This is the sad reality of middle east relations that prevents a resoultion - not a handful of fanatic jews (a small proportion of West Bank settlers) who believe in "greater israel".