Statistics

This section will cover the demographics of Israel, and the West Bank and Gaza (where a large number of Palestinians live). Please note that the numbers cannot be 100% accurate, but I have verified them with multiple sources. I list the sources when they are available, but please let me know if you feel some of these stats are wrong: please make sure you back up your claims with links or books.

Population - Israel

Let's start with a breakdown of the total population for Israel proper (not including the West Bank and Gaza, see the history page for details), by religion. We will include the numbers for 1948 and September 2001, we have:

Figures taken from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics and here. For more details check this page.

An Israeli Soldier. All single women serve 2 years in Israel's army.

Population - West Bank and Gaza

Now let's check the total population for the West Bank and Gaza, see the history page for details), by religion. We will include the numbers for 1948 and September 2000:

Figures taken from the CIA Website (West Bank and Gaza).

Israeli Settlements

After Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, some Israelis started to live on the land. These Israelis created villages and whole cities (such as Ariel, today with a population of over 10,000) and settled in the Palestinian territories.

When you hear about the Israeli Settlers, it is in reference to the above israelis. There are today about 200,000 of them in the West Bank and Gaza as shown in the picture below (the blue dots in the West Bank represent an Israeli settlement - town or city):

It is interesting to note that the 200,000 Jews that live in the West Bank and Gaza are called "settlers", while the 980,000 Muslim Arabs that live in Israel are "Israeli Citizens".

Population - Palestinian Refugees

As mentioned in the history page, many Arab residents left the area after Israel won its war of independence.

These Palestinians fled to the West Bank and Gaza, but also to other Arab countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, etc... Since the Palestinians refused to accept an independent state of their own in 1948 and in October 2000, and the Arab states mentioned above never gave them citizenship, these Palestinians are refugees. Here's how their numbers break down:

Figures taken from Palestinians sources in the Jerusalem Post article, "Deciphering the refugee code" of 2/8/2002.  Since I only had data for the above countries for 1948, I have not included Palestinian refugees in 2001 from other countries such as Saudi Arabia (274,762), Kuwait (34,370), Other Gulf States (105,578), Other Arab States (5,544), the US (173,050) and Other Countries (220,361).

Population - Jewish Refugees

In 1945 there were more than 870,000 Jews living in the various Arab states. Many of their communities dated back 2,500 years. Throughout 1947 and 1948 these Jews were persecuted and their property and belongings were confiscated. There were anti-Jewish riots in Aden, Egypt, Lybia, Syria, and Iraq (in Iraq, Zionism was even made a capital crime).

Aproximately 600,000 Jews sought refuge in the State of Israel (Howe & Gershman, op. cit., p. 168.) They lost everything they had and arrived in Israel destitute.

A Jewish Habani woman
Ein Shemer immigrant's camp (1/9/1950)

They were absorbed into the society and became full Israeli citizens and an integral part of the state. This is in contrast to the Palestinians refugees who never received citizenship or rights from the above Arab States. Since the Palestinians did not accept a State of their own in 1948 nor in 2000, they are still stateless and refugees.

Palestinian Terror - 2000-2002

Since the Palestinians started their current terrorist campaign on October 2000 (see the history page for details), there were 10,582 attacks on Israeli targets:

These numbers are true up to February 2002, more incidents have happened since I last recorded the above table. The majority of these attacks are terrorit incidents where the targets are unarmed civilians, including children and elderly. For a complete list of Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism, click here.

I got these stats from Israel's Defense Forces site . For more graphs and stats check http://www.idf.il/geut/english/main.html

Creation of States

As noted in the history page, Israel's independence occured on May 5th, 1948. Many states in the region also became independent only in the 20th century. The following states were all under the control of the Turks and part of the Ottoman Empire before they became independent: