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The Case for Demographic Optimism

[New York Jewish Week] Yoram Ettinger - Anyone claiming that Jews are doomed to become a minority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean may be unaware of the substantial rise in Israel's Jewish fertility. Delivery rooms are functioning at 100% capacity. At the same time, Arab fertility and population growth rates during the last 15 years have experienced a sharp dive. Unlike all other developed societies, the number of annual Jewish births has grown by 45% from 1995 (80,400) to 2008 (117,000). The Arab fertility rate in the West Bank has declined rapidly (now at 3.5 births per woman), as is the case in most Muslim countries. In Jordan it is 3 births; Syria, 3.5; Egypt, 2.5; Saudi Arabia, 4; Algeria, 1.8; and Iran, 1.7. An audit of births, deaths, school and voter registration and migration documentation from Israel and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics shows a 67% Jewish majority in the land west of the Jordan River (without Gaza). According to the audit, there are 1.55 million Arabs in the West Bank - and not 2.5 million, as claimed by the Palestinian Authority.
2009-10-20 06:00:00
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