Saturday, October 18, 2008

On the Population Threat

BBC asserts:

Israel has settled about 450,000 of its citizens in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since it occupied the areas in 1967. Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.


Wiki has these figures as of the end of 2007:

There are over 275,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, as well as around 200,000 Israeli Jews living in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.


That's 475,000 as of 10 months ago.

And on January 21, 2008, the numbers looked like this:

The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria grew by 5.2 percent, rising by 14,000 residents from 268,000 at the end of 2006 to 282,000 at the end of 2007
.

The anti-settlement Foundation for Middle East Peace has here, as of Sept. 2007 these figures, quoting Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz, August 16, 2007:

65,440 East of the security barrier and 209,716 west of it or, 275,156
.

Between you and me, were at 300,000 already.

As for the Arabs in Judea & Samaria, who knows? Caroline Glick summarized the problems three years ago already.

Now, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel (Hebrew source), the demographic growth of Israel's Muslim population is 2.9%, whereas the Jewish growth is 1.5% (the Arab growth, that is, both Muslim and Christian non-Jewish population is 2.6%). Nevertheless, the good news is that there has been a significant drop since 200 when the Muslim growth was 3.8%.

I note that because most demographic threats as presented by the opponents of Israe;'s continued presence in Judea and Samaria, like Sternhel's latest rant, suggest that Israel will turn into a binational state with Judea and Samaria. I put it that the threat exists with or even without Judea and Samaria and therefroe these opponents need to answer the question: if the threat within Green Line Israel looms in the next two decades, do they propose any radical antidemocratic steps?

Would they limit the right to vote, or to register parties they may be considered subversive?

Where do their liberal principles go then?

Or, where do they themselves go?

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