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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 28 January 2021
Report: Israeli settler population surged during Trump era

By JOSEPH KRAUSS pansion and has said he
Associated Press hopes to revive peace ne-
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s gotiations.
West Bank settler popula- By not objecting to new
tion has grown at a far high- settlement construction —
er rate than the country as as his predecessors from
a whole over the last four both parties had done —
years, a pro-settler group Trump encouraged their
said Wednesday, a period growth, further complicat-
that coincides with the ing efforts to bring about
Trump administration’s un- a two-state solution, which
precedented acceptance is still widely seen interna-
of settlement activity. tionally as the only way to
The report by West Bank resolve the decades-old
Jewish Population Stats Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
shows the settler popula- Israeli authorities advanced
tion growing by around plans to build nearly 800
13% since the start of 2017 homes in West Bank settle-
to reach 475,481. During ments just days before
the same period, Israel’s Trump left office. Peace
population grew by around Now, an Israeli anti-settle-
8% to reach nearly 9.3 mil- ment watchdog, says Israel
lion, according to the gov- approved or advanced
ernment. This June 30, 2020 file photo, shows the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Efrayim in the construction of over 12,000
Baruch Gordon, the direc- Jordan Valley. Associated Press settlement homes in 2020,
tor of West Bank Jewish the highest number in a
Population Stats, down- raeli government decisions cy,” he said. Former President Donald single year since it began
played the influence of U.S. on how much construction Israel captured the West Trump’s administration recording statistics in 2012.
policy, saying the annual to do and not to do,” he Bank and east Jerusalem in abandoned decades of Israel is also pressing ahead
growth rate actually de- said. the 1967 war, and the Pal- U.S. policy by accepting the with massive infrastruc-
clined in recent years even Many settlers are religious estinians want both as part settlements and released a ture projects that will more
before the coronavirus Jews who tend to have of their future state. The Pal- Mideast plan in which Israel closely link the settlements
pandemic. The West Bank larger families, driving pop- estinians and much of the would have been able to to its major cities and set
settler population grew by ulation growth, and many international community keep all of them, including the stage for future growth.
2.62% in 2020, according Israelis are drawn to the view the settlements as ille- smaller settlements deep Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a
to his figures, compared to settlements because they gal and as an obstacle to inside the occupied terri- spokesman for Palestinian
1.7% in Israel as a whole. In offer more affordable hous- creating a viable, contigu- tory. Last year, Mike Pom- President Mahmoud Ab-
2016, the settler population ing. ous Palestinian state. peo became the first U.S. bas, blamed the growth of
grew 3.59%. Gordon expects growth to The settlers and their sup- secretary of state to visit a settlements on “the previ-
“I don’t think any Ameri- continue even if President porters view the West Bank settlement. ous U.S. administration and
can president can influ- Joe Biden pressures Israel to as the biblical and histori- The Palestinians angrily re- the current Israeli govern-
ence that much, because rein it in. “The facts on the cal heartland of the Jewish jected the plan, and Biden ment,” reiterating that they
growth on the ground is ground are stronger than people and are opposed is likely to abandon it. He is are “illegal according to
(dependent on) internal Is- any American foreign poli- to any partition. opposed to settlement ex- international law.”q
Iran, Taliban officials say U.S. pushing war in Afghanistan

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Ira- and instability in the coun- have grown over a recent
nian and Taliban officials try on individual Afghan spike in violence, and both
met in Tehran on Wednes- groups. sides blame one another.
day and accused the U.S. There was no immediate Baradar, who arrived
of provoking the continua- comment from the U.S., Monday with a Taliban
tion of war in Afghanistan, which signed a peace delegation, criticized the
Iranian State TV reported. agreement with the Tal- U.S. for allegedly break-
Ali Shamkhani, secretary iban last February and ing its commitments to the
of Iran’s Supreme National met its goal this month of February deal. He did not
Security Council, told visit- reducing the number of elaborate.
ing Taliban political chief troops in Afghanistan to “We do not trust the U.S.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Bara- about 2,500. and will fight any group
dar that the U.S. seeks to Taliban representatives that is a mercenary for the
continue the war in neigh- and the Afghan govern- U.S.,” he said.
boring Afghanistan. ment earlier this month Occasionally, Iranian and
“The U.S. strategy supports resumed peace talks in Taliban officials meet for
the continuation of war Qatar, the Gulf Arab state what Tehran says are talks In this Jan. 31, 2020 file photo, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie,
and bloodshed among where the insurgents main- aimed at helping facilitate center, top U.S. commander for the Middle East, makes an
various Afghan groups in tain an office. The stop- intra-Afghan dialogue. unannounced visit in Kabul, Afghanistan.
the political spectrum,” and-go talks are aimed at Iran sees the presence of Associated Press
Shamkhani was quoted ending decades of con- U.S. forces in neighboring routinely calls for their de- some 945 kilometers (some
as saying. He said the U.S. flict. Afghanistan and Iraq as a parture. 585 miles) of common
tries to blame insecurity But frustration and fear threat on its doorstep and Iran and Afghanistan have border.q