JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The population of Jewish settlements in the West Bank has grown this year by more than the 9,000 settlers evacuated under a plan to cede some occupied land, an Israeli government official said on Friday.

Thousands of Israelis have streamed into larger West Bank settlements since the start of the year, increasing the number of Jews living on occupied land to 246,000, said the Interior Ministry official, who declined to be identified.

The official said that even after factoring in Israel’s evacuation of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank this week, the overall number now living in the occupied West Bank has grown by about 10,000 Jews.

“When you factor in the removal of settlers and take into account about 10,000 newcomers, mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews, you arrive at a figure of about 246,000 settlers. This is correct as of June 2005,” the official said.
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