JERUSALEM: The population of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has continued to surge during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s years in office, growing at more than twice the pace of Israel’s overall population, according to newly obtained official figures.

Settlement growth also was strong beyond Israel’s separation barrier, seen by many as the basis for a border between Israel and a future Palestinian state. The figures reflect Netanyahu’s continued support for settlement construction, even while repeatedly stating his commitment to the eventual establishment of an independent Palestinian state as part of a future peace agreement.

They also could be a topic of discussion as US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Netanyahu and European officials this week over a promised UN Security Council proposal dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Israeli leaders and prime ministers of all political affiliations have allowed and sometimes encouraged settlements, the US and Western allies have dwindling patience for their construction.

From the beginning of 2009 until the beginning of 2014 — Netanyahu returned to office in March 2009 — the Jewish settler population in the West Bank grew 23 percent, to 355,993 people.

In comparison, the overall population has grown 9.6 per cent to just over 8 million in that time. Figures for 2014 are not expected before late next year. The rate of settler population growth slowed slightly under Netanyahu, from 31 percent during the previous five years under his predecessors Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.

Olmert especially took relatively little heat for the settlements because he was seen as a moderate who was actively engaged in efforts to withdraw from occupied territory. In all, the settler population has more than doubled in the 21 years since Israel and the Palestinians have been engaged in an on-and-off peace process aimed at a partition of the Holy Land.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip for their future state. They say all Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is illegal — a position with wide international support. Israel withdrew all its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.—AP

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2014