Over 450,000 Jewish Settlers in West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 30 March 2007 — On the occasion of “Land Day”, celebrated every year on March 30 by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Arabs inside Israel, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) has issued a press release detailing data on the occupied Palestinian land, including the Israeli settler population. According to the data over 450,000 Jewish settlers are in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

Regarding the population density in the Palestinian areas, PCBS states that, in 2006, the population density in the West Bank was 432.3 persons per km and 3,955.7 persons per km in the Gaza Strip. The governorate of Gaza City was recorded as the most densely populated in 2006 with a population density of 6,833.8 persons per km.

On the other hand, the Jericho and Jordan Valley governorate was recorded as the least densely populated governorate with a population density of 73.6 persons per km. On an average, the Palestinian population density was recorded as 645.9 persons per km.

Regarding the Israeli Jewish settler population, the percentage of settlers in the Palestinian territories in 2005 equaled 15.8 percent of the total persons living in the West Bank; the highest percentage was in the Jerusalem governorate where settlers represented 38.0 percent of the total population, according to PCBS data.

The PCBS data suggest that the number of settlers in the West Bank in 2005 reached 451,441, of which 246,843 settlers were in the Jerusalem governorate (191,575 in the part of Jerusalem which was annexed by Israel in 1967, and 55,268 settlers in the rest of the governorate) representing 54.7 percent of total settlers in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, for the third day of its intensive military operations in West Bank, the Israeli forces killed a Palestinian youth during an arrest raid in a village located south of the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian sources said soldiers were looking for Rabia Assa’sa, a member of Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the village of Muthallath Al-Shohada, south of Jenin. Rabia managed to escape but his brother Amjad was arrested.

A group of youths in the village confronted soldiers by hurling stones. Soldiers opened fire killing Ahmad Assa’sa and injuring two other youths. The Israeli forces said that, in the nearby village of Muthallath Al-Shuhhada, troops responded to fire directed at them and shot toward an armed man who was stationed on a roof but did not notice that he was hit, an army spokesman said.

Palestinian witnesses said Ahmad was not armed and soldiers were shooting in response to stone throwing in the village. Israeli forces arrested 15 Palestinian activists across the West Bank yesterday. Israeli soldiers operating in Nablus overnight arrested the city’s Islamic Jihad leader