March 2002 Settlement Report

Number of settlements in the West Bank (5,640 sq. km.): 130
Number of settlements in the Gaza Strip (360 sq. km.): 16
Number of settlement areas in East Jerusalem: 11
Number of settlement areas in the Golan Heights: 33

Total settler population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip:

1972: 1,500
1983: 29,090
1992: 109,784
2001: 213,672

1972: 6,900
1992: 141,000
2000: 170,400

Total settler population in the Golan Heights: 17,000

Palestinian population:

• 2 million in 650 locales in the West Bank (including 200,000 in East Jerusalem)
• 1.1 million in 40 locales in the Gaza Strip

An estimated 100,000 Israelis, comprising 50 percent of the settler population, reside in eight settlements. The average population in the remaining one hundred forty settlements is 714.

Built-up settlement areas occupy 1.4 percent of the West Bank's 5,640 sq. km. Settlement boundaries enclose almost 10 percent of West Bank territory. In addition, with the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, Israel appears to be planning "no-go" areas between 70 and 500 meters wide around each settlement and every military installation in the occupied territories.

According to the YESHA Council, 3,000 settlers--comprising 1.5 percent of the settler population of 200,000--in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip--moved out of the settlements during 2001. This exodus was more than compensated for by natural increase and an influx of new residents, enabling the settler population to grow at a rate of 5 percent.

On August 12, 2001, Ha'aretz reported that the settler departure rate had exploded to 5 percent--or 10,000 people. A typical annual rate is 1 percent.

At least 360 Palestinian homes were demolished in the Gaza Strip by the IDF during the first year of the intifada. Since October 2000, Israeli authorities have demolished more than 200 houses in the West Bank.

In September 1993, there were 32,750 dwelling units in the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements. Between 1993 and July 2000, construction was initiated on an 17,190 units.

Settlers in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights received government mortgages during 2000 at a rate more than twice the national average. There were 16 new mortgages for every 1,000 settlers during the year 2000, compared to 6 per 1,000 Israelis.

Israel has uprooted 5.5 sq. km. of Palestinian orchards and destroyed 4.5 sq. km. of field crops.