Follow the money

The Ynet report is followed by an article from last June by J.J. Goldberg on a poll about declining support for settlements.

The illegal settlement of Ariel in the heart of the West Bank – heavily subsidised to encourage settlers to move into one of these identikit houses.

Settlements get significantly more government money than rest of Israeli communities, report finds

Adva Center says expenditure in non-religious settlements was NIS 7,416 per capita in 2012, while spending was NIS 4,688 per capita in Arab communities.

By Ynet news
September 09, 2014

Huge gaps in government funds to communities in Israel shows that the West Bank settlements have for decades been receiving vastly preferential treatment, while residents of development towns only get a very small amount, according to a report by the Adva Center released Tuesday.

In the two decades between 1991 and 2012, Israelis living in the West Bank were allocated an average of 2,695 shekels per year, compared to 1,892 shekels for residents of development towns, NIS 2,277 for those living in Arab communities and just NIS 1,684 for anyone living in the established “Forum 15” cities, which includes Tel Aviv, Holon, Herzliya, Haifa, Be’er Sheva and Ra’anana.

Based on surveys conducted over the past two decades, Arab communities received the most significant increase in government funds – from 746 shekels per capita in 1991 to 2,277 shekels in 2012. In contrast, development towns were the only group in which there was a reduction in funding.

Expenses in the settlements stood at an average of NIS 6,431 per capita in 2012. But when the distinction between non-Orthodox and Orthodox settlements is factored in, the picture changes: In 2012, per capita expenditure in the budget for ultra-Orthodox settlements, a sum of NIS 3,596, was the lowest, even lower than that of the Arab communities (with NIS 4,688 per capita). However, expenditure in non-Orthodox settlements – NIS 7,416 per capita – was the highest in Israel, exceeding even the “Forum 15” cities.

The report, authored by Adva’s Shlomo Swirski and Etty Connor-Attias, also showed that non-Orthodox settlements received government funding that was 2.4 times higher than that received by their ultra-Orthodox counterparts (Betar Illit, Modi’in Illit and Immanuel) – NIS 3,213 and NIS 1,359 per capita respectively.

This is primarily because [in] ultra-Orthodox communities the government’s financial contribution, much of which is earmarked for education, is not transferred to the local authority but goes directly to two major Haredi education networks, the “Independent Education” organization of the Agudat Israel party and Shas’ “Spring of Torah Education”. Furthermore, Haredi institutions that do not belong to one of these two networks are classed as “recognized education that is not authorized” and as such are only entitled to partially government funding.

The last two decades, Israel’s population grew at a rate of 60 percent. Of the four groups of communities, the most significant growth – 240 percent – was recorded in the settlements. The main increase came in three ultra-Orthodox settlements, where the population increased by 376 percent. The population of non-Orthodox settlements increased by 80 percent – a rate close to that of the other groups of communities.

The government contributes to the local budgets via “earmarked contributions”, which go towards educational and welfare services, and through “balancing grants”, which are used to reduce accumulated deficits in poor local authorities. Communities in the “Forum 15” do not receive “balancing grants”.

Israeli Public’s Support for Settlers Declines: Poll

By J.J. Goldberg, Jewish Forward
June 18, 2014

Israeli public support for West Bank settlements has declined significantly in the past year, according to a new survey released June 12. It’s the second consecutive year of sharp decreases in sympathy for settlers and the settlement enterprise.

The findings include an 11-point increase, from 48% to 59%, in those saying settlements damage Israel’s relations with the United States; an 8-point drop, from 42% to 34%, in those saying settlers serve as Israel’s “security belt”; and a 6-point drop, from 52% to 46%, in those agreeing that West Bank settlement is an “act of true Zionism.”

The survey also found a 4-point increase, to 35%, in the proportion agreeing that settlements are an impediment to peace; and a 6% increase, to 36%, in the proportion agreeing that settlements are illegal.

The findings are particularly noteworthy because the survey was conducted by a settlement-based institution, Ariel University, located in the West Bank town of Ariel and closely allied with the ideological settler movement. Founded as a branch of the Orthodox Bar-Ilan University, it was upgraded from college extension to university status in 2012 following a long fight that pitted the settler movement and its allies against all seven of Israel’s established universities.

Some responses were unchanged from last year: Half agreed that settlement budgets come at the expense of education and welfare, and 40% said Jewish settlements in the territories are a waste of government money.

On one question, regarding the future of the territories, the current survey showed a polarization: 51%, up 4 points from last year, favored withdrawing from all or part of the West Bank, while 31% — also up 4 points — favored annexing all or part of the territory. Support for the status quo was 12%, unchanged from last year. The bolstering of right and left came at the expense of undecideds.

The survey has been conducted annually for the past six years. It was carried out by the respected Maagar Mohot polling firm and was directed by two Ariel professors, Udi Lebel, chair of the sociology and anthropology department, and Miriam Billig, sociology professor and director of the university’s Samaria and Jordan Valley Research and Development Center.

In presenting their findings at a June 12 conference of Billig’s center, the researchers claimed they’d found the sharpest drop in public support for settlements since the survey began in 2009, according to Maariv, which carried the most detailed report (in Hebrew) on the survey.

An examination of previous years’ surveys doesn’t seem to bear that out. The drop from 2012 to 2013 seems considerably more dramatic in many particulars. In fact, according to a report in the settler-run Arutz Sheva-Israel National News (in Hebrew), the survey has been showing a continual decline in support since it began in 2009.

Exact comparisons aren’t easy, as the university has posted the survey on line only once, in 2012 (Hebrew). For other years one has to rely on noticeably uneven press coverage of the professors’ oral presentation.

At the time of Ariel’s upgrade the established universities argued that Ariel’s course offerings weren’t broad enough to merit university status. They also warned that the upgrading of the settlement-based institution would encourage foreign boycotts of Israeli academia. News reports at the time indicated that the campaign for the upgrade was at least partly a political effort by settlers and their allies to give the settlement enterprise greater legitimacy.

The survey polled a representative sample of 550 Israeli Jews living inside Israel proper, within the pre-1967 Green Line, and has a 4.5% margin of error. It was conducted by telephone in early June, before the kidnapping of three yeshiva students. A poll taken today might show sympathy for the settlers ticking back upward.