RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Thursday said that the number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories has exceeded half a million by the end of 2011. PCBS said in a report that the number of settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem reached 536,932 by the end of 2011 compared to 523,939 by the end of 2010, with a growth rate of 1.3 percent. The report said that the settlers in the Palestinian territories increased by more than 40 times between 1972-2011. Israel has built 145 settlements and 125 unauthorized settlement outposts in West Bank including 15 settlements in the surrounding areas of Jerusalem. The report provided granular detail on where the majority of settlers live: Jerusalem — 267,643 settlers; J1 (the areas in Jerusalem that Israel annexed after the June 1967 war) 199,647, Ramallah and Al-Biereh — 100,501, Bethlehem — 59,414, Salfit — 34,946, Tubas 1,489 settlers. On Wednesday, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported the Israeli government is set to approve, for the first time, the construction grants for 9,500 new hotel rooms to be built in West Bank settlements and near Jerusalem to accommodate tourists. Haaretz said that the rooms will be build in the settlement Ma'aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of the city. The anti-settlement Israeli watchdog Peace Now said that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allocated 1,059 billion shekel ($267 million) of the 2012 budget for settlements. Israel spent $275 million on settlements in 2011. The group said that the funds would cover various security expenses and most of the remainder for housing construction. Security expenses for Jewish occupiers living in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem went up in the new budget, reaching 3,160 ($892) per occupier, Peace Now said. The issue of settlements is one of the thorny issues that stalled the resumption of direct peace talks between Palestinian Authority and Israel which collapsed in October 2010 because Israel insisted to continue settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The international community, including the United States, Israel's most important ally, has been urging Israel to totally freeze its settlement constructions, yet the Netanyahu's government has so far refused to yield to that demand. The number of Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is estimated at 2,650,000 in 2012, according to figures from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
