West Bank settlement population growing rapidly

The population in Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements has grown twice as much as in Israel itself, military radio has said, quoting official statistics. According to the radio, the figures show an increase of 7,700 settlers in the occupied West Bank during the first six month of 2013 for a total settler population of 367,000. This represents a 2.1 percent increase in six months compared to an annual population growth of two percent registered in Israel. The number of settlers in West Bank outposts that could be dismantled as part of an eventual peace agreement between Israel and the PLO rose by 1.7 percent in the first half of the year, the report added. “The government is offering land free of charge (to settlers)… and under such conditions it is no surprise that Israelis are moving into settlements,” said Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer. Meanwhile Jewish Home leader and Economy Minister Naftali Bennet was quoted as saying in media reports that the government was preparing to issue tenders for the construction of new settler homes in East Jerusalem. Settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six-Day War, are illegal under international law.