Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Population in Jews-only colonies in occupied West Bank rises

Agence France Presse

JERUSALEM, Aug 29 2006-- The overall number of Israelis
living in the occupied West Bank has increased by 2.7
percent during the last six months, according to
statistics published by the interior ministry on Tuesday.

Around 7,000 more Israelis live in the Palestinian
territory than six months ago, taking their overall
population in the West Bank to 260,042, according to
statistics that exclude some 200,000 Israelis living in
annexed east Jerusalem.

This article excludes the additional
180,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the parts of
Jerusalem occupied by Israel since June 1967-Ali Abunimah

Since late 2004, when there were 241,494 Jewish settlers
in the West Bank, the Israeli population in the territory
has increased by 7.5 percent, according to figures
published in Israel's Maariv newspaper.

Israel dismantled all 21 settlements built in the Gaza
Strip and withdrew all its troops and settlers from the
territory in August and September 2005.

When Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took office on May 4, in
keeping with his ambition to redraw his country's
permanent borders, he said the continuation of scattered
Jewish settlements in the West Bank was "endangering"
Israel.

However, his intentions to withdraw from large parts of
the West Bank and so uproot tens of thousands of settlers
while effectively annexing the largest settlement blocs
have been put on ice after Israel's war in Lebanon.

This article excludes the additional
180,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the parts of
Jerusalem occupied by Israel since June 1967-Ali Abunimah

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