Growth compounds Israel’s problems

DAVID Pratt’s excellent analysis of the strife in Israel

(“Palestinians more cast adrift than ever in the struggle for the soul of East Jerusalem”, The Herald, May12) omits one possibly significant factor: population growth.

From what I can find on the internet, the population of Israel in 1950 was 1.4 million; in 2019 it was 9.1 million. In Palestine the population grew from 0.9 million to five million in the same period. Adding the two sets of statistics together, the total population of the area would appear to have grown from 2.3 million in 1950 to 14.1 million in 2019. Although these figures come from different websites, it nevertheless seems not unreasonable to conclude that the population in the area has increased nearly six-fold in nearly 70 years.

There should therefore be no surprise that pressure on resources will be growing substantially all around in both countries. Evidence of this can be seen in the Israeli government’s policy of allowing Jewish settlements in areas which had previously been Palestinian – and Mr Pratt points out that one such expansion appears to have been the flashpoint for the latest round of strife.

Two years after its establishment in 1948 the state of Israel passed its Law of Return, giving Jews, their children and grandchildren automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship. It is reckoned that since 1948, 3.4 million immigrants have come to Israel, although there has been some emigration as well.

The total fertility rate per woman in Israel is also high, reckoned to be 3.01, whereas in the UK it is 1.68 – and the Israeli figure has shown little variation over the last 20 years.

The result of this large immigration coupled with the high fertility rate is that Israel is now believed to be the world’s 17th most densely populated country with 1,097 people per square mile. This is exactly 50 per cent above the UK figure of 725 per square mile, which puts the UK at number 32 in the list of the top 100.

I am well aware that there are many reasons for the tensions between Israel and Palestine but, nevertheless, the population

figures force one to wonder whether the tensions might have been less if the population there had not grown so substantially.

Obviously, a reduction in population cannot take place overnight and, even if it could, other problems would also require to be solved. At the moment all one can do is hope and pray that the current strife will come to a speedy but not bloody conclusion. Stewart Noble, Helensburgh.