Mar 3, 2011

Israel: Jewish Population Up, Arab Population Down

Ryan JonesBy Ryan Jones
Israel Today

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Left-leaning Israeli leaders and international power brokers continue to try to scare Israelis into surrendering their biblical heartland by insisting that if they do not, Arabs will very soon outnumber Jews by a large margin west of the Jordan River.

They call it the “demographic threat,” but time and again, honest researchers have proven that such a threat simply does not exist. And even if it did, why should today’s Israelis be any less faithful to their biblical mandate than was David Ben Gurion, who declared Israel’s independence despite being actually outnumbered by the Arabs?

The latest study on demographics in the Holy Land was conducted by Yaakov Faitelson of the Institute for Zionist Strategies. It showed that there remains a strong and undiminished 66 percent Jewish majority in all territories west of the Jordan River, including the Palestinian-ruled areas of Judea and Samaria.

At the start of 2011, the number of Jews west of the Jordan River stood at just over 6.1 million. That figure exceeded by a whopping 234,500 the estimates made by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) in 2007, meaning the Jewish population is growing much faster than even the “experts” expected.

And that trend will only continue with the Jewish fertility rate reaching 2.9 in 2010, which is much higher than every Arab nation in the region with the exceptions of Jordan and Syria.

At the same time, the Arab population west of the Jordan River is growing slower than expected. The number of Israeli Arabs stood at just over 1.5 million in 2010, which was 28,000 less than the ICBS had forecasted.

The figures were similar among the Palestinian Arabs.

In short, as 2010 began, there were 3.12 Jewish births for every 1 Arab birth west of the Jordan River, a long-term demographic trend that clearly favors the Jews, contrary to what everyone loves to claim.

And then there is the effect of immigration and emigration.

Nineteen thousand new Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel in 2010, an increase of 16 percent over 2009 and an increase of 39 percent over 2008. At the same time, the Palestinian Arabs are registering a net emigration of about 23,000 per year.

Previous estimates that portrayed the Jews as quickly becoming a minority west of the Jordan River were based on unsubstantiated Palestinian figures, which even the World Bank in 2006 concluded had been grossly exaggerated.

The truth is that the Jewish population west of the Jordan River has been increasing at a rapid pace for over 60 years, and is showing no signs of stopping. While the Arab population in the entire region has experienced a significant slow-down.


Related Links


Demographic Trends in the Land of Israel, by Yakov Faitelson - Yesha Bulletin
14 housing units for Jewish families approved in East Jerusalem - Jerusalem Post
Introduction to the Biblical Covenants: Land Covenant - SpiritandTruth.org (Tony Garland)
Latest Population Figures for Israel - Jewish Virtual Library
Israel settlers block roads in 'Day of Rage' - Breitbart