Israeli settlers in the West Bank exceed half a million

A general view of the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the West Bank on Monday, January 30, 2023. The Israeli settler population in the West Bank has surpassed half a million people, a pro-settlement group said on Thursday, February 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli settler population in the West Bank has surpassed half a million people, a pro-settlement group said Thursday, marking a major milestone. Settlement leaders predicted even faster growth under the new ultranationalist Israeli government.

The WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com report, based on official figures, showed that the settlement population had grown to 502,991 people as of January 1, an increase of more than 2.5% in 12 months and nearly 16% in the last five. years.

“We have reached a huge milestone,” said Baruch Gordon, director of the group and a resident of the Beit El settlement. “We are here to stay.”

The new Israeli government, made up of ultra-nationalist parties opposed to the formation of a Palestinian state, has made settlement expansion its top priority. The government has already promised to legalize unauthorized outposts, which had long been supported by the government, and to speed up the authorization and construction of settler housing in the West Bank.

“I think that in the next few years of this government, more will be built than in the last 20 years of governments,” Gordon said.

Settlements have proliferated during every Israeli government, even at the height of the peace process in the 1990s. Even the short-lived previous government, which included parties in favor of a Palestinian state and others against it, continued to build settlements.

The report came amid an outbreak of violence in the region and days after a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who pledged support for an independent Palestinian state. The settler population has continued to grow during the Biden administration despite new US calls for a halt to building after years of hands-off by former President Donald Trump.

The settlement population figure did not include East Jerusalem, an area annexed and home to more than 200,000 settlers. Some 3 million Palestinians live between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians claim those territories for an independent state.

Although Israel withdrew troops and thousands of settlers from Gaza in 2005, it has gone ahead with construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are dozens of settlements scattered across the territory, some made up of a handful of mobile homes and others as large as cities, with shopping malls and their own public transportation.

Much of the international community views the settlements as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. Palestinians view them as a land occupation that undermines their chances of establishing a viable state.

“All the settlements are illegal. There is no legitimacy for the settlements or the presence of settlers in the Palestinian territories,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. “The increase in the number of settlers is the result of the policies of the Israeli government that does not believe in the two-state solution,” which would create an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Israel claims that the West Bank is disputed territory, rather than occupied, and claims that the latter term denies the historical presence of the Jewish people on those lands. It alleges that the future of the settlements should be part of the negotiations to end the conflict.

Peace efforts have been on hold for nearly 15 years, during which time Israel has been building settlements in a fait accompli policy while political rivalry among Palestinians has complicated negotiations.

The settlers and their many supporters in the government see the West Bank as the biblical and historic homeland of the Jewish people and oppose any division.

Palestinians and Israelis live under a two-tier legal system in the West Bank, which grants settlers special status and applies much of Israeli law to them, such as the right to vote in Israeli elections and access to some public services. The Palestinians live under an Israeli military regime and do not enjoy the legal rights and protections accorded to settlers.

The indefinite military occupation has led three well-known human rights groups to conclude that Israel is committing the international crime of apartheid by systematically denying Palestinians equal rights. Israel rejects these accusations that it considers an attack on its existence as a Jewish-majority state, and points to the advances of its citizens of Palestinian origin to refute the argument.

The increasingly authoritarian and unpopular Palestinian Authority, which established itself with agreements in Israel in the 1990s, manages parts of the West Bank. The Islamic militant group Hamas controls Gaza, which is subject to an Egyptian and Israeli blockade.

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