History repeats

From Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation, pp. 428, describing a proposal to stop Israeli settlement growth in September 1997, when the settlements housed 300,000 people:

... Netanyahu's spokesman, the piano-playing David Bar Ilan, described the proposal as "shameful" and "morally bankrupt" because it ignored world dangers while condemning what he mischievously called "the building of apartments for young couples."

Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, June 26, 2009, when the settlements had grown to almost 500,000 people:

"We cannot suffocate our own people. You know, babies are born. People get married. We cannot stop life. People want to build a synagogue or a kindergarten."

The "natural growth" exception never goes away. It gives Israel a license to continue growing the settlements in perpetuity.