JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-823
Jerusalem News 823
14 December 2008 18 Kislev 5769
Contents:
1. 2.16 Million Muslims in Israel,
Growth Rate Slowing
2. Syria Still Working on the Bomb
3. IDF
Preparing for a Bloody 2009 with Paintball Training
1. 2.16 Million Muslims in
Israel, Growth Rate Slowing
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128757
by Maayana Miskin
(IsraelNN.com) The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published statistics
relating to Israel's Muslim community on Monday in honor of the Muslim holiday
of Eid ul-Adha. There were 2.16 Muslims living in Israel at the end of 2007, the
CBS found, and the community's growth rate is steadily declining.
The Muslim community grew by 33,000 in 2007. The growth rate in 2007 was 2.8
percent - a significant decrease from previous growth rates of 3.8 in 2000 and
3.0 in 2005. The growth rate remains higher than that of any other community in
Israel, however.
The plurality of Israel's Muslim population resides in the northern part of the
country. Fourteen percent live in Haifa, and 38.5 percent live elsewhere in the
north.
More than 20 percent of Israeli Muslims live in Jerusalem, where they constitute
one-third of the population. Eleven percent live elsewhere in the central
district, and 14 percent live in the Negev.
The city with the highest Islamic population is Jerusalem, with an estimated
248,000 Muslims. In second and third place were Nazareth and Um el-Fahmm, with
45,000 and 43,000 Muslim residents respectively.
The Muslim population is relatively young. Forty-two percent of Israeli Muslims
are age 14 or younger, and only three percent are over the age of 65.
Bureau analysts explained that the Muslim population's youth results from its
high fertility rate. Muslim women living in Israel had an average of 3.9
children at the end of 2007. The average number of children per Muslim family
has dropped dramatically in recent years, from over 4.7 in 2000 to its current
position at less than four.
The Muslim fertility rate is much higher than that of non-Muslim communities in
Israel. The rate is 2.8 in Jewish communities, 2.5 in Druze communities, and 2.1
among Christians.
The Israeli Muslim fertility rate is also higher than that in neighboring
majority-Muslim countries: Jordan and Syria each have a 3.2 rate, Egypt's is
3.0, and in Lebanon it is 2.2.
Jewish Growth Up
Statistics regarding Israel's Jewish community were released earlier in the year
prior to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana. The census showed that Jewish women
had an average of 2.8 children in 2007, up from 2.75 the year before. While
Jewish fertility rates continued to climb, the number of Jewish adults remaining
single in their 20s grew as well, analysts found.
2. Syria Still Working on the Bomb
From:
The DEBKA Review
Summary of DEBKAfile Exclusives in Week Ending Dec. 11, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index.php
Marine spies find Syria has returned to plutonium production
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
5 Dec.: Western agents recently carried out a daring covert operation to collect
water samples from the Orontes River where it drains into the Mediterranean.
Their discoveries were presented to a closed session of the Vienna-based
International Atomic Energy Agency's board on Nov. 27-28.
Situated on the river bank near Homs is one of the three research institutes
where Syrian, Iranian and North Korean technicians and scientists are suspected
of reprocessing plutonium for Syria's clandestine military nuclear program. The
Orentes samples confirmed the suspicion that Syria has gone back to the
plutonium project which was cut short when Israeli destroyed its reactor at Al
Kibar in September 2007.
Western nuclear technicians collected them from a boat which sailed surreptitiously
up to the river mouth and collected water samples on three different dates in
the last two months.
Syria and North Korea renewed their clandestine nuclear cooperation accord on
Oct. 22, so making sure of an uninterrupted flow from Pyongyang of nuclear
materials, technology and experts for Syria's covert nuclear facilities.
3.
IDF
Preparing for a Bloody 2009 with Paintball Training
by Gil Ronen
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128835
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