“After receiving many requests from scholars and from the media for information on the population growth of West Bank Jewish settlers, we are publishing a table based on data collected by Israel’s Peace Now movement,” announced an email we received this week from Americans for Peace Now (APN).
“The table shows the population growth in Israel and in West Bank settlements since 1967,” the email continues, noting that “while the data shows the rapid growth of the settlers’ population, it also points out what a small minority the settlers are out of Israel’s overall population.”
The attempt on the part of APN to belittle the settlement enterprise, as part of its effort to wipe it off the map – literally – contradicts, obviously, all those other times they cry oy gevalt when those pesky settlers grow in numbers yet again.
The table in question, which can be accessed here, points out that, in 2015, there were 385,900 Jewish settlers, out of an overall Israeli population of 8,463,400.
So, for one thing, even using just these two figures, it appears that the settlers constitute more than 4% of Israel’s citizens. Of course, when one adds the Israelis who reside in the Golan and in eastern Jerusalem, those percentages go up—almost double, in fact.
In 2017, Israel boasts 8,680,000 citizens, out of whom 6,484,000 (74%) are Jewish and 1,808,000 (20.8%) are Arab.
It means that the settler population in Judea and Samaria alone, based on 2015 figures, constitutes about 6% of the Jewish population of Israel. That’s close to eight Knesset seat, or the difference between a stable Netanyahu coalition government.