Ms Jenn Byrne:

I would like to answer the Deputy's question about settlers. He was wondering where they come from and who they are. I will give him a figure first. The numbers range from a UN estimate of 550,000 to an estimate by Peace Now, an Israeli organisation, of 650,000 settlers between east Jerusalem and the West Bank. They are made up of both ideological and economic settlers. The ideological settlers believe the West Bank and all of the greater area belong to the Israeli Jewish population as a mandate from God. The economic settlers, who also make up a large number, move there because there is currently a housing crisis in Israel and they receive economic incentives from the Israeli Government to move. That cannot be discounted. Whatever their make-up, the settlements are illegal under international law.

Outside of this there are more than 100 settlements that are recognised by Israel and more than 50 outposts. Outposts tend to be havens for the more radical ideological settler and some of them comprise a caravan here or there, while others have populations of several thousand and these are the ones that orchestrate the majority of the settler attacks and violence against the Palestinian population.