- JERUSALEM (AFP) - The number
of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has risen by 5,400 during
the last 12 months to reach a record 231,443, according to figures from
the interior ministry Thursday.
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- Maale Adumin, east of Jerusalem, is now the biggest settlement
with 28,000 inhabitants. The next biggest are the ultra-Orthodox settlements
of Modiin Illit, to the west of Ramallah where 23,000 live, and Beitar
Illit, south of Bethlehem, which is home to 21,500 settlers.
-
- The number of settlers who now live in the centre of
the West Bank town of Hebron, under the protection of some 100 Israeli
soldiers, is put at 532. The ministry also said that the total number of
settlers in the Gaza Strip was 7,700.
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- The Settlers Council of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)
and the Gaza Strip, the main settlers' organisation, said it was pleased
with the figures.
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- "This proves that settlement is stronger than (Palestinian)
terrorism and the (Israeli) left," said the council which said it
expected to see a rapid growth in settlement population in the second half
of the year.
-
- The "roadmap" for peace, which aims to bring
to an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, calls for a freeze on all
settlement activity.
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