Increase in number of West Bank Israeli settlers

The number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has increased by 2.12 per cent during the first half of this year the Israel Today newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, data showed that the increase of settlers’ was higher than the increase in the general population of Israel, which was only 1.9 per cent in 2012.

The largest increase was in the Gush Etzion settlement near the Hebron mountains and the settlements in the north of the West Bank.

The newspaper said that the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank was 367,000 last July, which included 7700 newcomers, increasing by 21 per cent.

The undersecretary of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Yjaal Dilmouni, said, “The large demand on residences in the West Bank settlements challenges the government to accelerate the process of building there and to undertake increased efforts to build new houses to accommodate this increase”.

The secretary of the Israeli Peace Now movement said, “Based on this data and based on the rates of population increase, it will be impossible to achieve a two-state solution.”