Re: Mainstream view of the settlements.
Very informative article.
$300 million dollars a year in subsidies, eh? One wonders how many settlements there would be in a free-market situation with no government subsidies or tax breaks. A great first step for Israel that would cool off the settlement movement and help get the country out of its own socialist debt pit would be to scrap the government assistance to settlements, without actually forbidding them, and see what happens. Bet half of them would be empty in two years.
Reminds me of the Brazilian government paying for roads to cut the rain forests down, and the environmentalists blaming capitalism.