This is a guest-post from Alex Stein of falsedichotomies.com
See the video here.
Last year, the population of Israel increased at a rate of 1.8%. Among the Jewish population the rate is 1.6%.
Last year, the population of the settlements increased by 5.6%. Of that figure, a full 40% is attributable to immigration, from Israel and abroad.
Since Israel accepted the road-map, which mandated a freeze on all settlement activity, the settlement population in the West Bank has increased from 211,400 to over 289,600 – an increase of 37% in six years.
The government has recent argued that it cannot completely freeze settlement activity because the law prevents the government from reversing tenders that have already been issued. Yet in two cases brought to the Supreme Court in 1992, the Court ruled that the government could legally halt construction even after it had begun, with any losses accrued dealt with in a civil court.
The built-up areas of the settlements take up 1.7% of the West Bank. Their municipal boundaries, however, are 6.8%, an amount which can easily prevent Palestinian contiguity.
Hat-tip: B’tselem
