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The Myth of Israel's Demographic Doomsday
(The Hill) Gregg Roman - Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly warned of a demographic doomsday for Israel and that time is "running out." But time is not running out. For starters, there's no more reason to include Gaza in the equation than to include Lebanon or Jordan: the Israeli occupation there ended a decade ago. Moreover, most Palestinians in the West Bank also live in self-rule areas that Israel has effectively vacated and does not wish to govern. A second problem is that the official PA estimates and projections of Arab population growth have been deliberately inflated to boost the PA's negotiating stance and qualify for more foreign aid. Third, the birth rate of Israeli Jews has been rising steadily in recent years, to 3.1 in 2015 - the same as that of Israeli Arabs - even as Palestinian birth rates have steadily declined, to 3.7. With the highest birth rate in the developed world and substantial Jewish immigration adding to their ranks every year, Israeli Jews are not at risk of becoming a minority in the foreseeable future. The writer is director of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.