There is no ethnic cleansing in Israel and the West Bank - this is why - opinion

SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 17:57Updated: SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 18:04A recurring accusation promoted by the Palestinian Authority is that Israel has pursued a policy of “ethnic cleansing” and/or “genocide” against Palestinians and Israeli Arabs since 1948.What was once largely a PA libel is now echoed by anti-Israel voices worldwide. At the UN General Assembly this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres accused Israel of actions that he said risked “ethnic cleansing.”In the film world, anti-Israel activists are similarly linking the film NAZA to what they describe as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.However, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics recently published a chart showing the combined Palestinian and Israeli Arab population growth since 1914 within Israel, or what the PA calls “historic Palestine.”The PA’s chart highlights the utter failure of Israel’s "ethnic cleansing policy."Graffiti depicting Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the directors of the documentary film NAZA, and the word ''traitors'' in Hebrew, on a wall in Ashdod Tuesday, September 15, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)From 1948 to 1967, the years that Jordan illegally occupied Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank), the Arab population dropped 4.2 percent, from 1.42 million to 1.36m. That period of Jordanian rule is the only period on the chart since 1914 when the Arab population dropped.Under Israeli rule of Judea and Samaria since the 1967 Six Day War, which brought the entire Arab population under Israeli administration, the Arab population started to skyrocket. Over the next 60 years, according to the PA, the Arab population grew from 1.36m. to 7.41m. today, a staggering 445% rise.Evidence of ‘ethnic cleansing’: NoneThe PA’s statistical data demonstrates an “epic failure” of Israel’s “ethnic cleansing policy.”The population growth experienced by Arabs living under Israel since 1967 isn’t just noteworthy – it’s unique. By comparison, Germany’s population grew from 78m. to 84m. from 1967 to 2026, a rise of 7.7%. Britain rose from 55.7m. to 69.6m., a 25% increase.Even when comparing the growth to neighboring Arab states, the Arab population’s growth under Israel has been monumental. The population of Lebanon rose from 2.2m. to 5.8m. – a 164% rise. Syria’s population grew from 6.3m. to 24m., a 281% increase. No other Arab population grew 445% as did the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs under Israel.There are many reasons for Israel’s “failed ethnic cleansing policy.” First, Israel imposed major changes in healthcare, including training Palestinian doctors to follow the standards of Israel’s healthcare system.As a result, infant mortality dropped in Judea and Samaria from 152/1000 births before Israeli rule to 29/1000 under Israel by 1996.Life expectancy for the Arabs of Judea and Samaria before Israeli rule was 48 years, while under Israel’s “ethnic cleansing,” it rose to 72 years by 1996, according to the UN.Israel also introduced modern agricultural techniques to the Arab residents of the West Bank, like drip irrigation and other advanced Israeli farming methods. As a result, harvest yields surged, and Arabs in Judea and Samaria experienced an economic boom as early as the 1970s.By any benchmark, Israel’s treatment of Israeli Arabs has been the worst ethnic cleansing failure. The Israeli Arab population has grown from 150,000 in 1948 to 2.15m. today – a 1,333% increase. Israel’s Christian population is 5.4 times larger as well, as it grew from 35,000 to almost 190,000, a 443% growth, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.So, if Israel has a policy of ethnic cleansing, as claimed by the PA, it has been an utter failure. If Israel wants to persist in its so-called ethnic cleansing policy, it will have to look for new and better ways.Fortunately, Israel does not have to reinvent the wheel. There are examples of highly successful ethnic cleansing by the Palestinians that Israel can learn from.During the period between 1990 and 2005, when Israel handed the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority in stages, until before Hamas’s Gaza war in 2023, estimates are that the Christian population dropped from approximately 3,000 to 1,000 – a 66% drop.Looking at Bethlehem’s Christians, the PA had a similarly successful “ethnic cleansing.” Under Israeli rule, Christians in Bethlehem and the surrounding area made up 50% of the population. Since Israel handed Bethlehem over to the PA in 1994, the number of Christians has dropped to less than 10% of Bethlehem’s population.Israel must now learn from its neighbor. If Israel ever wants to get its “ethnic cleansing policies” in order, it should stop everything that it’s been doing since 1967, which has caused exponential Arab growth.Instead, Israel should echo the model used by the PA to “ethnically cleanse” Christians in Bethlehem since 1994, which caused them to drop to 10% of the population.Now that’s ethnic cleansing.The writer is the director of Palestinian Media Watch.Follow us on Google