Israel's settler population surged during Trump era, data shows

Israel's settler population in the West Bank has grown at a far higher rate than the country as a whole over the last four years, a pro-settler group said Wednesday, a period that coincides with unprecedented acceptance of settlement activity from former U.S. president Donald Trump's administration, Associated Press reported.

The report by West Bank Jewish Population Stats shows the settler population growing by around 13% since the start of 2017 to reach 475,481. During the same period, Israel's population grew by around 8% to reach nearly 9.3 million, according to the government.

The group's report, which is based on official government data, does not include annexed East Jerusalem (Al-Quds), home to more than 200,000 settlers.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Al-Quds in the 1967 Six-Day War, and the Palestinians want both as part of their future state. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

The settlers and their supporters view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people and are opposed to any partition.

Trump's administration abandoned decades of U.S. policy by accepting the settlements and released a Mideast plan in which Israel would have been able to keep all of them, including smaller settlements deep inside the occupied territory. Last year, Mike Pompeo became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit a settlement.

The Palestinians angrily rejected the plan, and Biden is likely to abandon it. He is opposed to settlement expansion and has said he hopes to revive peace negotiations.

By not objecting to new settlement construction — as his predecessors from both parties had done — Trump encouraged their growth, further complicating efforts to bring about a two-state solution, which is still widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict.

Israeli authorities advanced plans to build nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements just days before Trump left office. Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, says Israel approved or advanced construction of over 12,000 settlement homes in 2020, the highest number in a single year since it began recording statistics in 2012.

Israel is also pressing ahead with massive infrastructure projects that will more closely link the settlements to its major cities and set the stage for future growth.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the growth of settlements on “the previous U.S. administration and the current Israeli government,” reiterating that they are “illegal according to international law.”

One of Israel's major human rights groups, B'Tselem, released a report earlier this month arguing that Israel has become an “apartheid” regime, in part because of the permanence of the settlements.

While the settlers are Israeli citizens, the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under different forms of Israeli military rule.

The inequity has been on display during Israel's response to the coronavirus.

Settlers are included in Israel's highly successful vaccination campaign, while the Palestinians in the West Bank must rely on the Palestinian Authority, which is struggling to secure its own supply of vaccines.