Settlers hope Trump will accelerate growth The Jewish population in the West Bank grew at twice the rate of the general Israeli population last year, according to an advocacy group that hopes the Trump administration will support policies that help accelerate the growth of settlements in the occupied territory.
The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank could grow “much higher” under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Baruch Gordon, the director of the group that publishes the data, said Tuesday.
He developed close ties with settler leaders and presented a peace plan that would allow Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank and keep all of its settlements.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built about 130 settlements and dozens of settlement outposts in a bid to cement its control over the territory.
The military last month launched a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank last month, in part as a response to militant attacks on settlements.
