Publius

Ah yes, quit right, my bad, let me retract or modify that to read, "Zionist settlements in Palestine". There should defenitely be a distinction between the two, one that I carelessly did not make. Jews are an ethnic group whereas Zionist are a religious sect who happen to be of the Jewish ethnicity.

Now as for how and why the settlements were started to begin with. Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a Zionist leader, started the first settlement in downtown Hebron at the Park Hotel on April 12, 1968, about ten months after the end of the Six-Day War, in direct violation of Israeli policy and international law. Ever hear Hebron mentioned in the news??? Of course you do, all the time. And why do you suppose that is? Well I can tell you that the actions of one Rabbi Moshe Levinger has a great deal to do with it. You are correct in stating that most of the settlements are now on hilltops, but many of them are not. Rabbi Moshe Levinger's settlement, Beit Hadassah is in the very center of Hebron. Hebron is a city of about 120,000 Arabs and only 500 Jews. Yet it is the Zionists who run the place, under the direct supervision of Rabbi Levinger of course. Rabbi Levinger's rap sheet is very long, and he has been charged with murder, assault, and various other crimes. Yet each time Israeli authorities are reluctant to give Rabbi Levinger anything more than a slap on the wrist for his crimes giving him free rein to continue his reign of terror over the people of Hebron. Look him up and when you are done you will wonder why they call the Palestinians the terrorists.

Getting back to international law real quick. It is against international law for any conquering state to establish permanent settlements withing a captured territory. Palestine is a captured territory even though it may not 'belong' to any particular state, it is under Israeli occupation but is not considered part of the Israeli state, therefore the rules of international law still apply.