Trump thanked for helping growth in Israeli settlements

MIDDLE EAST: The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank grew at nearly twice the rate of Israel’s overall population last year, a settler leader said, predicting that settlement growth would surge even more in the coming years thanks in part to Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States.

Yaakov Katz said that Trump, backed by a Mideast team dominated by settler supporters, has created a friendly new atmosphere conducive to settlement growth after eight contentious years with the Obama White House.

``This is the first time, after years, that we are surrounded by people who really like us, love us, and they are not trying to be objective,’' Katz said. ``We have to thank God he sent Trump to be president of the United States.’'

Katz is founder of ``West Bank Jewish Population Stats’', a report sponsored by ``Bet El Institutions’', a prominent settler organisation that has ties to Trump’s closest Mideast advisers. He said the figures are based on official data from the Israeli Interior Ministry not yet available to the public.

According to his figures, the West Bank settler population reached 435,159 as of January 1, up

3.4 per cent from 420,899 a year earlier. The settler population has grown 21.4 per cent in five years.

In comparison, Israel’s total population grew 1.8 per cent to

8.743 million last year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Katz said the rapid growth of the settlements should put to rest the idea of a two-state solution favoured by the Palestinians and most of the international community.

Based on recent growth patterns, he said the West Bank settler population could approach

500,000 by the time Trump leaves office. His study did not include the more than 200,000 Israelis now living in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital.

``We are changing the map,’' he said. ``The idea of the two-state solution is over. It is irreversible.’'

The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future independent state. Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Mideast war, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

A string of US presidents, both Republican and Democrat, have endorsed the idea of a two-state solution and have joined the international community in opposing settlements as obstacles to peace.

But after years of failed US-led peace efforts, Trump has taken a different line. He says he would support a two-state solution only if both sides agree to it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition is dominated by settler allies who oppose Palestinian independence.

Trump also has taken a softer stance toward the settlements, avoiding the condemnations of his predecessors. His ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is a former president of Bet El Institutions. His chief Mideast adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has donated to the group, and even Trump once sent a donation. – AP