Beit El (West Bank), Feb 5 (AP) The Jewish population in the West Bank grew at twice the rate of the general Israeli population last year, according to an advocacy group that hopes the Trump administration will support policies that help accelerate the growth of settlements in the occupied territory.

The West Bank's Jewish-settler population rose by roughly 2.3 per cent — over 12,000 people — last year, reaching 529,450, according to a report by West Bank Jewish Population Stats.

That was a slight dip from the 2.9 per cent growth rate in 2023, but roughly double the 1.1 per cent population growth rate inside Israel proper.

The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank could grow “much higher” under the administration of US President Donald Trump, Baruch Gordon, the director of the group that publishes the data, said on Tuesday.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built about 130 settlements and dozens of settlement outposts in a bid to cement its control over the territory. The Palestinians seek the area as the heartland of a future state and say the presence of settlements makes independence impossible.

Nearly all of the international community, including the former Biden administration, opposes the settlements as obstacles to peace.

The International Court of Justice ruled in July that the occupation of the West Bank was illegal and said that it violated Palestinians' right to self-determination. It said Israeli policy in the territories constituted “systemic discrimination” based on religion, race or ethnic origin, and that Israel had already effectively annexed large parts of the territory.

During his first term, Trump broke with the international community and years of American policy. He developed close ties with settler leaders and presented a peace plan that would allow Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank and keep all of its settlements.

That track record has raised hopes among Israel's settlers that they could be entering a new period of rapid growth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is dominated by settler supporters and he has placed a prominent settler leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in charge of settlement planning.

“I think you're going to see an explosion of the construction here,” Gordon said.

Gordon's group projects the Jewish population in the West Bank will surpass 600,000 by 2030. There are roughly 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

The report does not include east Jerusalem, where it estimates 340,000 Jewish settlers live. Israel says these settlers are residents of neighbourhoods of its capital, while the international community considers these areas to be settlements.

Inside the gated settlement of Beit El, on a hilltop abutting several Palestinian villages in the central West Bank, construction is continuing apace. It's a rapidly developing community, where high-rise luxury condominiums finished last year can now house 300 families and construction workers are working on a new dormitory for a Jewish seminary.

Settlers like Gordon say Israel must keep the territory for security and spiritual reasons. “This is our biblical heartland,” he says.

But critics say the settlement expansion is a recipe for continued conflict. The military last month launched a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank last month, in part as a response to militant attacks on settlements.

The United Nations says over 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023, triggered Israel's war in Gaza. It also has reported a jump in settler attacks on Palestinians.

Israel says its military offensives are aimed at militants, but stone throwers and uninvolved civilians have also been killed in the crackdown. (AP) PY PY