RAMALLAH: The results of the 2022 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics will worry Israel’s leaders, according to a Palestinian political expert.

“Israelis constantly worry about the demographic superiority of the Palestinians because they want to control the Palestinians… but, at the same time, they want a pure Jewish society,” said Ghassan al-Khatib. Arabic News.

“The most important fact is that we are equal to the Jews in terms of demographics,” he explained.

The poll shows high growth rates among Palestinians and half of them are part of the diaspora living outside Palestine, he added.

The figures also show that the Palestinian people are still young, with more than a third of the population under the age of 15.

Al-Khatib said that Israel cannot give up the West Bank for political reasons, but also cannot annex it for demographic reasons, which is embarrassing for Israel.

“There is a huge contradiction between the demographic aspect and democratic principles in Israel,” he explained.

Opinion polls show that there are now about 14.3 million Palestinians in the world. Of these, 5.4 million are in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – an increase of 2.4% from the previous year – while 1.7 million are in Israel, 6.4 million in Arab countries and 761,000 elsewhere in the world .

By the end of the year, the number of Jews living in Israel and its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is expected to increase to 7.1 million, roughly the same number of Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip. and Israel.

Israel, whose leaders reject the Palestinian idea of ​​establishing an independent state, has always feared they would form a majority.

A senior statistics bureau official, who asked not to be named, said Arabic News that the main revelation of the survey is the demographic equality between the number of Jews living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The most important fact is that we are equal to the Jewish people in terms of demography and high Palestinian growth rates, and half of Palestinians live in diaspora outside Palestine,” the official said.

Opinion polls show that children aged 14 years or younger make up 38% of the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while people aged 65 and over make up only 3% in Palestine, 4% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip.

It also shows that the average Palestinian family size will drop to five members in 2021, from six in 2010.

The survey also highlighted the increasing problem of unemployment, especially among young graduates. In the Gaza Strip, 45% of people of working age are unemployed, while this figure rises to 14% in the West Bank.

The unemployment rate is 21% for men and 39% for women.

The poll shows that in 2022, Israeli authorities destroyed 1,058 buildings – including 353 residential properties – in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the majority (29%) in the Jerusalem Governorate.

However, Israel has built hundreds of settlement units. At the end of 2018, there were more than 700,000 settlers living in 151 settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as of Monday, 224 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

According to the Commission on Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs, 4,700 Palestinians were being held in Israeli occupation prisons at the end of November, including 34 women and around 150 children.

This text is a translation of an article published on Arabnews.com