Jews and Palestinians are almost at parity in Israel, territories - study
The study was published in honor of what Palestinian hold is Nakba (Catastrophe) Day on May 15, the same day on which the Gregorian calendar marks the creation of the state of Israel.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA general view of Jerusalem's Old City shows the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in the foreground and the Dome of the Rock, located on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in the background June 24, 2019(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
The number of Jews and Palestinians living within sovereign Israel, the West Bank and Gaza has almost reached parity, according to a study posted on the website of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.“Data showed that Palestinians represented 49.7% of the population living in historical Palestine, while Jews constituted 50.3% by the end of 2019,” according to the PCBS study conducted by Dr. Ola Awad.It showed that the population of Jews and Palestinians had been almost equivalent for a number of years.The study was published in honor of what Palestinian hold is Nakba (Catastrophe) Day on May 15, the same day on which the Gregorian calendar marks the creation of the State of Israel.The demographics of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, often underlies the philosophical choices Palestinians and Israelis make with regard to their pursuit of ethnic nationalist states. This year the data’s release comes as Israel prepares to annex portions of the West Bank, a move which its opponents warn could lead to a one-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.According to Awad’s study, some 690,000 people live in those areas in 1914 of which, 8% were Jews. That number rose to 2 million in 1948, out of which 1.4 million were Palestinians, the report stated, adding that some 800,000 of those Palestinians were displaced by the war, according to the PCBS.Around 1966 Jews made up over a majority of the population, some 60%, while the number of Palestinians on a percentage basis had fallen to some 40% of the population. The percentage of Jews within the population has since fallen, the report showed.By the end of 2019, there were 13.4 million Palestinians worldwide, out of which, 3.02 million live in the West Bank and Jerusalem and another 2.02 million live in Gaza, the PCBS said. This includes 295,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the report stated.According to the PCBS, which relied on UNRWA, there were 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in 2019. Out of those, 28.4% of whom live in 58 refugee camps camps in the following locations: 10 in Jordan, 9 in Syria, 12 in Lebanon, 19 in the West Bank and 8 in Gaza.Some 66% of the total population of Gaza Strip are refugees, the report stated.
