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Last update - 00:00 09/02/2008
PA census: Nearly 4 million Palestinians live in W. Bank, Gaza, E. J'lem
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel, population, census 

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian population in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem rose approximately 30 percent over the last ten years, reaching 3.76 million, up from 2.89 million, according to census results released Saturday.

Only 208,000 Palestinians were counted in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which is sought by the Palestinians as a future capital, said Luay Shabaneh, head of the Palestinian Central Statistics Bureau.

Demographics play a crucial role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, with higher population figures potentially bolstering Palestinian territorial demands.
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The unexpectedly low figure for east Jerusalem - it fell even below an estimate of 210,000 in the 1997 census - was immediately challenged by Palestinian politicians. In 1997, census-takers were barred by Israel from going door-to-door and based their result on projections. This time, census volunteers conducted an actual count, working discretely to avoid confrontations with Israeli authorities, Shabaneh said.

However, Hatem Abdel Kader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said he didn't believe the Jerusalem figures were reliable. "We doubt these numbers," he said, adding that he believes many Jerusalem homes were not visited by census-takers.

The number of Palestinians with Jerusalem residency rights may be considerably higher than those actually living in the city. With housing scarce and relatively expensive in East Jerusalem, many Palestinians with rights to live in the area have settled in nearby West Bank suburbs.

In early December, some 6,200 census-takers fanned out across the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, going door to door to collect information.

Palestinians have one of the highest birth rates in the world, forcing Israel to consider the possibility that Jews, despite ongoing Jewish immigration, will one day be a minority in historic Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. In September 2007, Israel's population included 5.45 million Jews, 1.4 million Arabs and 310,000 others, according to Israeli government figures.

Presenting the census results at a news conference, Shabaneh said that Palestinian population growth remains high, but has leveled off somewhat. Pre-census projections had predicted a population of 3.9 million.

According to actual results, 3.76 Palestinians live in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the territories the Palestinians want for a future state. That includes 2.345 million in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 1.416 million in Gaza, Shabaneh said.

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      1.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA UNDER EGYPT; PARTS OF W.BANK LINKED TO JORDAN 17:37  |  G. Marcus 09/02/08
      2.   Not Concerned W/Gaza or West Bank 17:52  |  Ron 09/02/08
      3.   LEFTIST PROPOGANDA!!!!PSEUDO-STATISTICS!!!! 18:15  |  Ben Uziel 09/02/08
      4.   To Haaretz a question.. 19:21  |  Elham 09/02/08
      5.   Lies Disprovren LONG Ago 19:37  |  Yishai Kohen 09/02/08
      6.   What concerns me is the cries of genocide 19:44  |  Lynn 09/02/08
      7.   Historic land of Israel NOT "Balestine" 19:45  |  Rick and TC 09/02/08
      8.   # 1 RE: ONLY SOLUTION - AGREED AND FURTHERMORE, 19:46  |  ELHAM 09/02/08
      9.   Is this the Pallygallup nonsense "Census"-ALL LIES 20:16  |  Alan 09/02/08
      10.   Even with a Pal. state they wouldn`t be satisfied 20:34  |  Conroy 09/02/08
      11.   Palis whine about "genocide" AND grow by 30% 20:53  |  amused 09/02/08
      12.   The PA Census has been proven to be false 21:01  |  S Judah 09/02/08
      13.   They should demand condoms, not territory 21:29  |  Michael 09/02/08
      14.   Check the figures Check the spin 21:30  |  Shalom Freedman 09/02/08
      15.   DEPORT ALL ARABS!!! 21:39  |  Noam Wolf 09/02/08
      16.   The REAL reason the #`s are so low... 21:42  |  Ariel 09/02/08
      17.   # 11 Not bad isnt it . Genocide? what a ridiculous claim 21:47  |  Sun Angel 09/02/08
      18.   NUMBER 10 22:10  |  D 09/02/08
      19.   Total Pal. population almost equal to Jewish population! 22:43  |  demographic war 09/02/08
      20.   UNRWA 22:55  |  Ethan 09/02/08
      21.   Typical Arab lies. They prefer to cover up the truth 23:09  |  David 09/02/08
      22.   no stoping them 23:35  |  sam 09/02/08
      23.   Results of genocide and ethnic cleansing? :)) 23:49  |  17 09/02/08
      24.   plenty of land in original Arab land of TransJordan 23:50  |  richard 09/02/08
      25.   darn 23:55  |  depopulator 09/02/08
      26.   There are ALREADY more Pals than Jews in Palestine 00:02  |  FACT 10/02/08
      27.   I Feel Extremely Bad 00:19  |  fygfg 10/02/08
      28.   let them go to arab brother countries. 00:24  |  reuven 10/02/08
      29.   Untrustworthy and irrelevant data 00:39  |  Moshe 10/02/08
      30.   slowing down 01:10  |  Uncle Mel 10/02/08
      31.   High Population? Inflated as usual, nothing but LIES 01:20  |  Elham 10/02/08
      32.   Looking for the naysayers 01:56  |  Connie 10/02/08
      33.   PA is making up numbers again 02:02  |  Gili 10/02/08
      34.   Population survey is an inflated lie financed by Olmert`s regime 04:37  |  ROB SCHWARTZ 10/02/08
      35.   How the thief boasts.... 06:51  |  kiwi girl 10/02/08
      36.   High Population - If so, because of two factors 08:09  |  * BEN JABO 10/02/08
      37.   To Lynn #6 09:11  |  pal 10/02/08
      38.   #18, "FACT" 09:28  |  Avi 10/02/08
      39.   18#, Fact, you are wrong 09:48  |  Judah 10/02/08
      40.   To#22 in some ways you are right. 10:02  |  pal 10/02/08
      41.   #27, pal 10:57  |  Avi 10/02/08
      42.   #34, pal 11:19  |  Avi 10/02/08
      43.   To#41 Avi 12:29  |  pal 10/02/08
      44.   4 millions Palestinians living in West Bank and Gaza? 03:32  |  Mr. Anonymous 18/06/09
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