Jerusalem settlement.
Statistical report of the Jewish population in the West Bank shows that the population of settlers has increased by about 13% since the beginning of 2017, reaching 475,481. During the same period, Israel’s population grew by about 8%, reaching almost 9.3 million, according to the government.
The group’s report, which is based on official government data, does not include the annexed East Jerusalem, which is home to more than 200,000 settlers.
Baruch Gordon, the director of the Jewish People’s States in the West Bank, downplayed the influence of US policy, saying that the annual growth rate has actually fallen in recent years even before the coronavirus pandemic. The population of settlers in the West Bank will increase by 2.62% in 2020, according to its figures, compared to 1.7% in Israel as a whole. In 2016, the population of settlers increased by 3.59%.
“I don’t think any US president can influence that much, because growth on the ground is (dependent on) the decisions of the Israeli internal government on how much construction to do and not to do,” he said.
Many settlers are religious Jews, who tend to have larger families, leading to population growth, and many Israelis are attracted to settlements because they provide more affordable housing.
Gordon expects growth to continue, even as President Joe Biden pressures Israel to control it. “The facts on the ground are stronger than any US foreign policy,” he said.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want them both as part of their future state. Palestinians and much of the international community see settlements as illegal and an obstacle to the creation of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state.
The settlers and their supporters regard the West Bank as the biblical and historical heart of the Jewish people and oppose any partition.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration abandoned decades of American policy by accepting settlements and launched a Middle East plan in which Israel could keep them all, including smaller settlements deep inside the occupied territory. Last year, Mike Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit an agreement.
The Palestinians have angrily rejected the plan and Biden is likely to abandon it. He opposes expanding the settlement and said he hopes to revive the peace talks.
Without objecting to the construction of a new settlement – as his predecessors on both sides did – Trump encouraged their growth, further complicating efforts to bring a two-state solution that is still widely seen internationally. as the only way to solve the old decades. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli authorities have advanced plans to build nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements just days before Trump leaves office.. Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, says Israel has approved or advanced the construction of more than 12,000 homes in 2020, the highest number in a single year since it began recording statistics in 2012.
Israel is also continuing with massive infrastructure projects which will link the settlements more closely to its major cities and lay the foundations for future growth.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the increase on the settlements of the “previous US administration and the current Israeli government”, reiterating that they are “illegal under international law”.
One of Israel’s leading human rights groups, B’Tselem, released a report earlier this month, claiming that Israel had become an “apartheid” system., partly due to the permanence of the settlements. While the settlers are Israeli citizens, the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank live in various forms of Israeli military rule.
Inequity has been exposed during Israel’s response to the coronavirus. Settlers are included in Israel’s highly successful vaccination campaign, while Palestinians in the West Bank must rely on the Palestinian Authority, which is struggling to secure its own supply of vaccines. Israel says it is not responsible for immunizing Palestinians, and the Palestinian Authority has not publicly called for Israel’s help.
Israel rejects the apartheid label, stating that its own Arab population has citizenship, including the right to vote, and is vaccinated. It also administers vaccines to Palestinians in East Jerusalem, most of whom have permanent residence but no citizenship.