The Central Bureau of Statistics said that the records of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) indicate that the number of refugees registered with it in December 2020 amounted to about 6.4 million Palestinian refugees, of whom about two million are in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a report issued today, Sunday, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, which falls on the fifteenth of May, the "Statistics" indicated that about 28.4% of the refugees registered with UNRWA live in 58 official camps affiliated with it, distributed among 10 camps in Jordan, and 9 Camps in Syria, 12 camps in Lebanon, 19 camps in the West Bank, and 8 camps in the Gaza Strip.

These estimates represent the minimum number of Palestinian refugees, given the presence of unregistered refugees, as this number does not include those Palestinians who were displaced after 1949 until the eve of the June 1967 war “according to the definition of UNRWA.” It also does not include the Palestinians who left or were deported in 1967 on the grounds of war and who were not refugees in the first place.

The Nakba: Ethnic Cleansing, Population Replacement, and Land Control:

The events of the Nakba of Palestine and the ensuing displacement constituted a great tragedy for the Palestinian people, as it represented and still is a process of ethnic cleansing, where an entire people was destroyed and expelled, groups and individuals from all over the world replaced it, and 957 thousand Palestinians were displaced from their villages and cities out of 1.4 million Palestinians who used to reside. In historical Palestine in 1948 in 1,300 Palestinian villages and cities, where the displacement ended with the majority of them to a number of neighboring Arab countries in addition to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in addition to the internal displacement of thousands of them inside the lands that were subjected to the control of the Israeli occupation in the year of the Nakba, and what followed after their expulsion from their homes and seize their land.

During the Nakba period, the Israeli occupation took control of 774 Palestinian villages and cities, of which 531 were completely destroyed, and the remainder were subjected to the occupation entity and its laws. Palestinian, and the massacres continue to this day.

The demographic reality: 75 years after the Nakba, the Palestinians have multiplied 10 times:

The population in historic Palestine in 1914 was about 690 thousand people, of whom the percentage of Jews was only 8%, and in 1948 the population reached more than two million, about 31.5% of whom were Jews, and between 1932 and 1939 the largest number of Jewish immigrants flowed in, and their number reached 225,000 Jews, and between 1940 and 1947, more than 93,000 Jews flocked to Palestine. Thus, between 1932 and 1947, Palestine received approximately 318,000 Jews, and from 1948 until 2022, more than 3.3 million Jews flocked.

Despite the displacement of about one million Palestinians in 1948 and more than 200 thousand Palestinians after the June 1967 war, the total number of Palestinians in the world reached 14.3 million at the end of 2022, which indicates that the number of Palestinians has increased about 10 times since the events of the 1948 Nakba, about half of them (7.1). million) people in historical Palestine (1.7 million in the territories occupied in 1948).

Population estimates indicate that the population reached 3.2 million people in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) at the end of 2022, and about 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip. With regard to Jerusalem Governorate, the population reached about 487 thousand people at the end of 2022, of whom about 65 % (about 314 thousand people) reside in the areas of Jerusalem (J1), which the Israeli occupation annexed to it by force after its occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

Based on these data, the Palestinians constitute 50.1% of the population residing in historical Palestine, while the Jews constitute 49.9% of the total population and exploit more than 85% of the total area of historical Palestine (which amounts to 27,000 km2).

The Nakba of Palestine turned the Gaza Strip into the most densely populated part of the world:

The population density in the State of Palestine at the end of 2022 was about 899 individuals/km2, with 569 individuals/km2 in the West Bank and 6,019 individuals/km2 in the Gaza Strip, noting that 66% of the population of the Gaza Strip are refugees, which caused the influx of refugees to Transforming the Gaza Strip into the most densely populated part of the world.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation established a buffer zone along the border strip of the Gaza Strip, with a width of more than 1,500 meters along the eastern borders of the Strip. Thus, the Israeli occupation controls about 24% of the area of the Strip, which is 365 square kilometers, which contributed to a sharp rise in the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip, which reached 47%, and it turns out that the prevailing unemployment rates were the highest among youth in the age group 15-24 years, at 69% for the year 2021. This, in turn, contributed to the worsening and weakness of the economic reality in the Gaza Strip, which turned more than half of the population in the Gaza Strip into poor, as it reached The poverty rate in 2017 in the Gaza Strip was 53%.

One hundred thousand martyrs since the Nakba of 1948:

The number of Palestinian and Arab martyrs since the Nakba in 1948 until today (inside and outside Palestine) reached about 100,000 martyrs, while the number of martyrs from the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada until 12/31/2022 reached about 11,540 martyrs.

It is noteworthy that the year 2014 was the bloodiest year, during which 2,240 martyrs fell, of whom 2,181 were martyred in the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom were martyred during the aggression on the Gaza Strip. As for during the year 2022, the number of martyrs in Palestine reached 231 martyrs, of whom 56 were children and 17 were women. The number of wounded is about 10,000.

Over a million arrests since 1967:

The number of prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons reached 4,900 until April 2023 (of whom 160 are children, in addition to 31 female prisoners). As for the number of arrest cases, it reached during the year 2022, with the arrest of about 7,000 citizens throughout the Palestinian territories, including about 882 children and 172 women. While the number of administrative detention orders against citizens who have not been charged with any crime reached 850.

The data also indicates that there are 554 prisoners serving life sentences (for life), and 1,000 administrative detainees.

She adds that Israel detains more than 700 sick prisoners and four prisoners of the Legislative Council, in addition to the presence of 23 prisoners who were arrested before the Oslo Accords in 1993 and are still languishing in the occupation prisons.

It is clear from the data that the number of martyred prisoners has reached 237 since 1967 due to torture or willful killing after arrest or medical negligence against the prisoners. Seven prisoners were killed, five of them as a result of medical negligence.

Colonial expansion continues:

The number of Israeli colonial sites and military bases at the end of 2021 in the West Bank reached 483 sites, distributed among 151 settlements, 25 inhabited outposts that were considered as neighborhoods belonging to existing settlements, 163 colonial outposts, and 144 other classified sites, including (industrial, tourist, service areas, and camps for the occupation army). As for the number of settlers in the West Bank, it reached 719,452 settlers, at the end of 2021.

The data indicates that most settlers live in Jerusalem Governorate, with 326,523 settlers (constituting 45.4% of the total number of settlers), of whom 239,951 settlers live in J1 area (includes that part of Jerusalem Governorate that the Israeli occupation annexed to it by force after its occupation of the West Bank in 1967). Followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, with 143,311 settlements, 95,279 settlements in Bethlehem governorate, and 50,067 settlements in Salfit governorate.

As for the lowest governorates in terms of the number of settlers, they are Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley, with 2,629 settlers. The ratio of settlers to Palestinians in the West Bank is about 23 settlers for every 100 Palestinians, while the highest in Jerusalem governorate was about 69 settlers for every 100 Palestinians, and the year 2022 witnessed a significant increase. In the pace of building and expanding Israeli settlements, the occupation authorities approved about 83 colonial plans to build more than 22 thousand colonial units throughout the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

Continuous appropriation of Palestinian lands:

The occupation exploited the classification of lands according to the Oslo Accords (A, B, and C) to tighten control over Palestinian lands, especially in areas classified (C), which are completely subject to the control of the Israeli occupation, as the occupation directly exploits 76% of the total classified area. (C), where the regional councils of the settlements control 63% of them, while the area of the areas of influence in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank (including the closed areas designated for the expansion of these settlements) amounted to about 537 square kilometers at the end of 2022, which represents about 10% of the area The West Bank, while the areas seized for the purposes of military bases and military training sites represent about 18% of the area of the West Bank at 1,016 km2, in addition to the annexation and expansion wall, which isolated more than 10% of the area of the West Bank, and more than 219 Palestinian communities were damaged as a result of the construction of the wall Which has a length of about 714 km. Since 1967, the Israeli occupation authorities have confiscated about 353 thousand dunums of Palestinian lands and classified them as natural reserves in preparation for their seizure.

Judaization of Jerusalem and the demolition of Palestinian real estate:

Within the policy of deportation and replacement, the occupation authorities are taking accelerated Judaization measures in Jerusalem in order to obliterate the Islamic and Christian monuments, displace the Palestinians from the city of Jerusalem, and replace them with Israelis coming from all over the world, as the Israeli occupation authorities approved, during the year 2022, about 70 colonial plans to build more than 10,000 units Colonial settlements in Jerusalem governorate and its environs, at a time when the Israeli occupation authorities demolished more than 258 buildings and issued demolition decisions for more than 220 buildings, including 100 residential buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood within the collective demolition policy, which leads to the displacement of 1,550 people, the majority of whom are children and women.

In addition, the frequency of targeting Palestinians increased, as 19 Jerusalemites were killed and about 2,486 were injured by the occupation bullets during 2022. The number of arrest cases launched by the occupation in Jerusalem governorate increased during 2022, as the number of arrest cases reached about 3,504 cases, compared to about 2,879 cases in in 2021, with an increase of about 22%.

More than 8,700 attacks in 2022:

The occupation authorities and colonizers carried out 8,724 attacks against Palestinian citizens and their property during the year 2022. These attacks were distributed by 1,515 attacks on religious property and places, 362 attacks on lands and natural resources, and 6,847 attacks on individuals. On the other hand, the year 2022 witnessed an attempt by settler groups on 63 occasions to establish outposts, most notably: the attempt of the right-wing Nahla movement to establish more than 10 outposts on 7/20/2022, and the occupation forces and settlers launched a total of 223 confiscation operations of about 294 Palestinian property, including 48 tractors. agricultural fields, and 53 citizens’ cars. These attacks also uprooted, damaged, and razed 10,291 olive trees, including 2,400 trees in Nablus governorate.

378 demolitions affected 953 facilities in the West Bank during 2022:

The policy of the occupation forces did not stop demolishing Palestinian-owned buildings and the resulting displacement of residents from their homes throughout the West Bank. Since 2009, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories (OCHA) documented that the occupation forces destroyed 9,353 homes or facilities since 2009. 2009, including 1,639 facilities funded by donors, which led to the displacement of 13,641 citizens.

The demolitions were distributed by 19% in East Jerusalem, 79% in areas classified (C), and about 2% of demolitions in areas classified (A) and (B). OCHA documented that about 953 facilities were demolished during 2022, of which 140 were demolished. A facility funded by donors, which led to the displacement of 1,031 citizens and affected 28,446 citizens, of which about 70% were inhabited and uninhabited agricultural and residential facilities.

While the occupation authorities carried out a total of 378 demolitions during the year 2022, affecting 953 establishments in the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem. Most of the demolitions were concentrated in the Jerusalem governorate, with 118 demolitions, or 31%, leaving 178 demolished establishments in the city of Jerusalem, of which 98 were demolished. Self demolition.

The occupation authorities also issued 1,220 demolition notices, of which about 33% were in the Hebron governorate, 18% in the Bethlehem governorate, and 9% in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorates, in addition to the destruction of many infrastructure sites that serve the Palestinians, including roads, water and sanitation networks, and recreational places. ..etc.

Per capita share of water is less than the minimum due to occupation:

The average daily Palestinian per capita consumption of water reached 86.3 liters of water during the year 2021, when this average reached 89 liters per day in the West Bank, compared to 82.7 liters in the Gaza Strip, and if we take into account the high pollution rate of water in the Gaza Strip, and calculate the quantities of potable water For human use from the available quantities, the per capita share of fresh water would be reduced to only 21.3 liters per day.

When comparing this rate with the Israeli per capita consumption, we notice that the Israeli per capita consumption rate is three times higher than the Palestinian per capita, as the Israeli per capita share reached about 300 liters per day, and this rate doubles for the settlers to more than 7 times the Palestinian per capita consumption.

It is worth mentioning that the average Palestinian per capita water consumption is still less than the minimum recommended globally according to the standards of the World Health Organization, which is 100 liters per day, as a result of the Israeli occupation's control over more than 85% of Palestinian water resources.

Occupation control over the waters of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea:

Palestine depends mainly on water extracted from ground and surface sources, which amounts to 76.4% of the total available water. The amount of water pumped from the wells of the aquifers (the eastern basin, the western basin, and the northeastern basin) in the West Bank for the year 2021 amounted to about 105.3 million cubic meters.

The main reason for the weakness in the use of surface water is due to the Israeli occupation’s control over the waters of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. It should be noted that the Israeli occupation has prevented Palestinians from accessing the waters of the Jordan River since 1967, which are estimated at about 250 million cubic meters.

While the amount of water extracted from the coastal basin in the Gaza Strip reached 192.5 million cubic meters during the year 2021, this amount is considered an unfair pumping due to the need for water and the lack of another water source, as the pumping exceeds the coastal basin’s storage capacity of renewable water, which is estimated at 50-60 million cubic meters. per year, which led to the depletion of water reserves and the decline of the groundwater level below 19 meters below sea level, which led to the overlapping of sea water and the filtration of sewage into the reservoir, which made more than 97% of the coastal basin water Not compatible with WHO standards.