Half a million colonizers live in 144 Israeli colonies in the West Bank

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Half a million colonizers live in 144 Israeli colonies in the West Bank

 

Ramallah – The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) indicated that the number of colonizers, in the Palestinian territories, exceeded half a million colonizers by the end of 2011, Ma’an News Agency has reported.

 According to a report, on the Israeli colonies, issued by the PCBS, the number of colonizers in the West Bank in 2011 was 536,932 compared to 523939 in 2010, with a growth rate of 1.3%.

The majority of the colonizers (267,643) concentrated in Jerusalem governorate (50% of the total colonizers in the West Bank), including 199,647 of them are colonizers in Jerusalem (J1 area). That part of Jerusalem which was annexed forcefully by Israeli following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

The second largest number of colonizers is in Ramallah and Al-Bireh province by 100,501 colonizers, 59414 colonizers in Bethlehem province, and 34,946 colonizers in Salfit. However, Tubas province has the lowest number of colonizers, 1489.

 It is noteworthy that the number of colonizers has doubled more than 40 times, in the West Bank, during the years 1972 to 2011.

The report indicated that there are 144 colonies in the West Bank by the end of 2011. The majority of them are in Jerusalem province by 26 colonies, of which 10 have been annexed by the Israeli Authorities; while Ramallah and Al-Bireh province has 24 colonies.