Ramallah: The end of the year 2015 witnessed a 3 per cent rise in the number of Israelis living in Jews-only West Bank colonies and outposts compared to the end of the previous year, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Dr Ola Awad, who heads the bureau, noted that at the end of 2015, a total of 617,291 Israeli colonists lived in West Bank colonies and outposts, whereas only 598,369 were living there at the end of 2014.
According to the bureau, almost half of the Israeli colonists (292,555) live in 26 occupied Jerusalem-based colonies and outposts.
Dr Awad explained that the occupied West Bank is home to 150 Israeli colonies officially established by the Israeli government, as well as about 100 outposts, which colonists established on their own, and later applied to have legalised by Israeli law.
Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East War, and immediately started establishing colonies in the occupied territories.
Colony building on Palestinian land is illegal under international law, which prohibits the transfer of population from the occupying state to occupied territory. Confiscation of land to build or expand colonies is similarly prohibited.
In 2010, a total of 524,952 colonists lived in the West Bank colonies; the number increased to 542,977 in 2011. In the year 2012, a total of 562,747 colonists lived in these colonies, but the number increased to 580,762 in 2013.
Lured by the slogan, “For affordable housing, move to the West Bank colonies,” Israeli colonists are tempted by housing units offered at low prices by the Israeli regime.
