The settlement freeze is having an impact, figures obtained by Haaretz reveal: In the second half of 2009, one third of all West Bank settlements experienced slower population growth than the average inside Israel - a larger proportion than during the first half.
The data, from an internal Civil Administration report, list 312,940 settlers in the second half of 2009, an increase of 2.75 percent over the first half and of 5.1 percent over 2008. Even excluding the huge growth rates of the ultra-Orthodox settlements of Betar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit (6.3 and 9.8 percent, respectively), the settlements grew 3.8 percent last year, while the Jewish population inside Israel grew only 1.7 percent.
However, 38 out of 120 settlements grew by less than 1.7 percent in the second half, as opposed to 30 in the first half and 26 for the year as a whole. Several key settlements fell into this low-growth category, including Shavei Shomron, Ma'aleh Efraim, Psagot, Beit El, Karnei Shomron and Ofra.
The figures show that the settlement freeze, which officially took effect in November, has been underway de facto for over a year, and has curtailed the number of new settlers, especially in areas farther from the Green Line.
A breakdown by region shows that in the second half of 2009, the Mount Hebron Regional Council grew by 3.81 percent compared to the first half, to 5,909 people. Mateh Binyamin grew 2.51 percent, to 47,636 people, and the Megilot Regional Council shrank 2 percent, to 1,032 residents.
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