Settler population soars in West Bank
Number of Israelis living there in past five years grows by nearly 25 percent to more than 420,000.
JERUSALEM — The number of Israeli settlers living in theWest Bank has soared by nearly one-quarter over the past five years to more than 420,000 people, a prominent settler leader said Sunday, presenting newpopulation figures that he said put to rest the internationally backed idea of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
Yaakov Katz issued his report as the Israeli government is locked in negotiations with the Trump administration over understandings that are expected to include some curbs on settlement construction.
“We are talking about a situation that is unchangeable,” he said Sunday. “It’s very important to knowthe numbers, and the numbers are growing.”
According to Katz, the settler population hit 420,899 on Jan. 1, up 3.6 percent from 406,332 people a year earlier and a 23 percent increase from 342,414 at the beginning of 2012.
Katz said the numbers were based on data from the Interior Ministry that have not yet been made public. The ministry, which oversees the country’s population registry, had no comment. But Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the numbers appeared reasonable.
The figures are being published on anewwebsite sponsored by Bet El Institutions, a settler organization that counts members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle among its supporters.
Katz’s figures did not include settlement construction in east Jerusalem, where more than 200,000 Israelis now live. Altogether, he said the population growth — which is nearly double the 2 percent nationwide rate of annual population growth — means the settlements are “irreversible,” he said.
“Whatever (German Chancellor) AngelaMerkel orTrumporanybodyelse is thinking about, it belongs to the past, not to the future,” he said.
Israel captured theWest Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, leading to the takeover of the territory by the Islamic militant group Hamas two years later. Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade over Gaza since then. Israel says the policy is needed to preventHamas from building up its arsenal of weapons. Critics condemn it as collective punishment.
For two decades, the international community has overwhelmingly backed the idea of a twostate solution as the best way of reaching peace and rejected Israeli settlements as obstacles to peace.