463,000 Jewish settlers live in 150 West Bank settlements

Israeli data has revealed that the number of Israeli Jewish settlers living in 150 illegal Jewish-only settlement in the occupied West Bank increased by 3.4 per cent in 2019, Quds Press reported yesterday.

Quoting Israel Hayom the website said the number of settlers had decreased between 2012 and 2018, however an acceleration in settlement building had led to an increase in 2019.

The population increase in the illegal settlements,  the paper reported, was nearly twice that of the rise in the number of people living in Israel which amounted to 1.9 per cent at the start of 2020.

The Israeli newspaper said that the number of settlers increased by 12,964 in 2018 and by 15,299 in 2019.

According to the data, the number of Israeli Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, excluding occupied Jerusalem and its surroundings is 463,901 living in 150 settlements, noting that more than 300,000 Jewish settlers live in occupied Jerusalem and its surroundings.

READ: Netanyahu vows to annex all settlements ‘without exception’

More Israeli settlements in Palestine – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]