Israel's Judea and Samaria settler population has grown at a far higher rate than the country as a whole over the last four years, a study by a pro-settler group said Wednesday, a period that coincides with the Trump administration's unprecedented acceptance of settlement activity.
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The report by West Bank Jewish Population Stats shows the settler population growing by around 13% since the start of 2017 to reach 475,481. During the same period, Israel's population grew by around 8% to reach nearly 9.3 million, according to the government.
Baruch Gordon, the director of West Bank Jewish Population Stats, downplayed the influence of US policy, saying the annual growth rate actually declined in recent years even before the coronavirus pandemic. The settler population grew by 2.62% in 2020, according to his figures, compared to 1.7% in Israel as a whole. In 2016, the settler population grew 3.59%.
"I don't think any American president can influence this that much, because growth on the ground is [dependent on] internal Israeli government decisions on how much construction to do and not to do," he said.
Many settlers are religious Jews who tend to have larger families, driving population growth, and many Israelis are drawn to the settlements because they offer more affordable housing.
Gordon expects growth to continue even if President Joe Biden pressures Israel to rein it in. "The facts on the ground are stronger than any American foreign policy," he said.
Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, and the Palestinians want it as part of their future state. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlement enterprise as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable Palestinian state.
The settlers and their supporters view Judea and Samaria as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people and are opposed to any partition.
Former President Donald Trump's administration abandoned decades of US policy by accepting the settlements and released a Mideast peace plan in which Israel would have been able to keep all of them, including smaller settlements. Last year, Mike Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit Samaria.
The Palestinians angrily rejected Trump's peace plan, and President Joe Biden is likely to abandon it. He is opposed to settlement expansion and has said he hopes to revive peace negotiations.
By not objecting to new settlement construction – as his predecessors from both parties had done – Trump encouraged their growth, further complicating efforts to bring about a two-state solution, which is still widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli authorities advanced plans to build nearly 800 homes in Judea and Samaria settlements just days before Trump left office. Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, says Israel approved or advanced construction of over 12,000 settlement homes in 2020, the highest number in a single year since it began recording statistics in 2012.
Israel is also pressing ahead with massive infrastructure projects that will more closely link the settlements to its major cities and set the stage for future growth.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the growth of settlements on "the previous US administration and the current Israeli government," reiterating that they are "illegal according to international law."
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