The number of Palestinians living in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is expected to rise to equal the number of Jews in the same area by the end of 2017, at 6.58 million, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claimed in figures it released on Thursday. Titled “Palestinians at the end of 2016” (Arabic and English) the report estimated that there are 6.41
million Palestinians living in “historical Palestine” — considered by the PCBS to be the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, a figure that apparently includes the 1.8 million Arab Israelis. The PCBS has been responsible for providing Israel with demographic data for the West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords. The Israel Defense Forces also relies on the figures. READ MORE