Les enjeux démographiques en Palestine après le retrait de Gaza
Youssef Courbage
Since Zionism came about in the 19th century, demographics (immigration, emigration, marriage, birthrate and death rate) have
played a major role in the establishment of the Jewish community in Palestine and, since 1948, in the consolidation of the state of Israel. Since the war
of 1967 and the conquest of the entire Palestinian territory formerly under
British mandate, two clashing demographics are at odds with one another:
that of the Palestinians in the occupied territories (West Bank with East Jerusalem and Gaza until 2005) and that of the Israelis who colonize these territories. The former aims to preserve this territory for the benefit of its original
inhabitants, the second to conquer it for the benefit of the colonists. Until the
second Intifada in 2000, the Palestinian fertility rate had remained high.
Since then a significant drop has brought it to below the level of that of the
Israeli colonists in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has been quite
high and even on a rising trend. The causes for the drop in Palestinian fertility
and those behind the persistently high fertility among Israeli colonists are
studied. The perspectives for the West Bank population for 2025 underscore
the rapid growth of the Israeli population to the detriment of the Palestinian
population. What political consequences do these demographic changes hold
in store?
• Population et territoire : les ambiguïtés
• Une nouvelle démographie ?
• Des chiffres surestimés chez les Palestiniens ?
• La transition palestinienne
• Une croissance palestinienne en décélération…
• … Face à l’« explosion » démographique des Israéliens en Palestine
• Un nouveau plan de partage ?