Jewish settler population in West Bank passes half a million
More than half a million Jewish residents now live in the West Bank – a record number that owes to the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territory, expected to ramp up under Israel’s new far-right government.
The Jewish population in the West Bank has reached nearly 503,000, according to a report by the pro-settlement group WestBankJewishPopulation Stats.com, based on official statistics from Israel’s Interior Ministry. That is an increase of about 16% over five years, the report found, as the settler movement gains momentum, dashing prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
‘‘The attitude of our detractors, both globally and those in Israel, has been to ignore the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria,’’ said Baruch Gordon, one of the authors of the report released yesterday and a resident of the Beit El settlement, using a biblical name for the West Bank. They ‘‘say eventually they’ll go away with a globally negotiated peace deal,’’ he said. But ‘‘the facts on the ground are saying that we crossed the threshold of 500,000 – half a million – and that is a major mark and we’re here to stay.’’
The half-million figure does not include some 340,000 Jewish residents of East Jerusalem neighbourhoods, which are technically part of the West Bank. Some 3.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. The area has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Palestinians have long seen East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza as part of a future state.
The Oslo accords in the 1990s were intended to set the stage for the establishment of such a state. They granted Palestinians a degree of self-rule in some parts of the West Bank, while Israel retained full control of security and land management in a large swath of the territory. In the decades since, with explicit or tacit support from Israeli authorities, Jewish settlements have steadily expanded, displacing Palestinians in the process. Most of the international community considers settlements illegal.
Based on the growth rate of the past five years, Gordon’s group projects that the Jewish population in the West Bank – outside of East Jerusalem – will surpass 1 million by 2047. That’s a conservative estimate, he said, noting that the high cost of housing within Israel’s 1948 boundaries is a driver of movement to West bank settlements, especially the for large, religiously observant families.
Palestinians and international rights groups accuse Israel of upholding a system of apartheid, in which Jewish settlers in the West Bank are subject to Israeli civil law while Palestinians live under military rule and do not have equal rights. Israeli authorities restrict Palestinians’ movements, building rights and access to resources. Israel rejects allegations of apartheid.
US officials continue to promote a two-state solution, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning against moves ‘‘toward annexation in the West Bank’’ during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories last week. But Israel’s de facto annexation of the area has rendered moot any discussion of a Palestinian state in the near future, both sides say.
Previous Israeli governments have encouraged the growth of Jewish settlements for years, including through tax benefits. Recent years have seen settlers deploy new tactics to drive Palestinians from their land, including by grazing livestock on land as a prelude to seizing it, according to Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for B’Tselem, which opposes the settlements.