There's never been any question where the vast majority of the world stands with regard to the legality of Israeli settlements, as expressed in documents like UN Security Council Resolution 465:
The Security Council, [...]
5. Determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical
character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the
Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem,
or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and
practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those
territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also
constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting
peace in the Middle East;
6. Strongly deplores the continuation and persistence of Israel in
pursuing those policies and practices and calls upon the Government and people
of Israel to rescind those measures, to dismantle the existing settlements and
in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and
planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including
Jerusalem;
But two years ago we found out that the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal adviser came to the same conclusion in 1967, before the settlement project had even begun (and has unequivocally reiterated that conclusion):
A senior legal official who secretly warned the government of Israel
after the Six Day War of 1967 that it would be illegal to build Jewish
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories has said, for the
first time, that he still believes that he was right. [...]
The legal opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The
Independent, was marked "Top Secret" and "Extremely Urgent" and reached
the unequivocal conclusion, in the words of its author's summary, "that
civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the
explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
And this week we discovered that the United States reached the same conclusion as well, in a legal opinion that still stands:
Thirty years ago, the State Department
legal adviser issued an opinion in response to an inquiry from
Congress: The establishment of Israeli settlements in occupied
Palestinian territories "is inconsistent with international law."
The opinion cited Article 49 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that an occupying power "shall
not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the
territory it occupies." [...]
Despite the passage of time, the legal opinion, issued during the Carter administration, has never been revoked or revised.
I'm sure you'll agree this is wonderful news! Now that we know that the entire world—including Israel and the United States—is unanimous in recognizing that Israeli colonization of Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, has been in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention, surely it'll be just a few weeks before this whole sordid chapter of history is closed. Given this universal understanding that settlements are illegal, I'm sure Israel (with U.S. backing) will do everything it can to get those international law-breaking, human rights-denying settlers out of there in no time!
Now, I'm sure some people might doubt this will happen, and I guess I can understand their skepticism. Much worse, though, I'm sure there are a few who feel that Israel and the U.S. should ignore their own unequivocal legal advice. But clearly the only people who'd want upstanding, law-abiding nations like Israel and the U.S. to continue behavior that the world unanimously recognizes as flatly illegal are unrepentant America-haters and anti-Semites—people who want nothing more than to make these two paragons of virtue look bad.
So from now on, whenever you hear someone defending Israeli settlements or calling on the U.S. to lend any support to the settlement project (including the slightest compromise on "natural growth"), no matter who it might be, you can rest assured they're motivated by nothing more than their implacable hatred for both Israel and America.