Funds diverted from Israel's poverty traps to expanding settlements

Ma’ale Adumim, Israel’s largest Jews-only settlement, built on Palestinian land just outside Jerusalem. Its residents are demanding its expansion, see below.  Photo by Reuters.

Herzog: Funds for Galilee, Negev go to isolated settlements

Opposition leader says settlements lobby is ‘grabbing the government by the most delicate places’; MK Moti Yogev accuses Zionist Union head of incitement.

By Attila Somfalvi, Ynet
December 01, 2015

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of diverting funds meant for the Galilee and the Negev to isolated settlements in the West Bank.

“Bibi will come here soon and tell you how much he did for the Galilee. He cannot continue lying. Every child in an isolated settlement outside the main blocs in Judea and Samaria gets more than a child in the Galilee,” Herzog said during the 8th annual Galilee Conference held in Acre.

He accused the right wing parties of emptying out the state’s coffers by putting pressure on the prime minister. “You can’t keep extorting everyone,” Herzog said.

Isolated Jews-only settlement near Nablus, built on Palestinian land.

He also once again ruled out joining Netanyahu’s government. “Those who think we can join a unity government when the priorities are so twisted, are mistaken. There’s nothing for me in a unity government,” he said.

 Herzog’s comments caused uproar, with MK Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi)  accusing Herzog of incitement. “You’re irresponsible, it’s a good thing  you didn’t join the government,” Yogev said.

“This is the truth,” Herzog insisted. “You, the lobby of isolated  settlements and of Judea and Samaria in the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties, are grabbing the government and its leader by the most delicate places. This lobby sits inside the Prime Minister’s Office and sucks up all of the funds for the Galilee and the Negev. Netanyahu is incapable of moving an inch on the diplomatic front, change anything in the Israeli economy, or change the national priorities in favor of the Negev and the Galilee.”

Netanyahu and Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri are also scheduled to speak at the conference.

Israeli right wing activists attend a march in the rural area known as E1 from the “Israeli city of Ma’ale Adumim, in Judea [i.e. West bank settlement] on February 13, 2014.” They were voicing opposition to any deal brokered by John Kerry and a demand for more settlement construction. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90

Jewish Population in Judea & Samaria Growing Significantly

By Ahuva Balofsky, Breaking Israel News
January 05, 2015

Former chairman of the Judea and Samaria Council, Dani Dayan, said Friday that the Jewish presence in the region is an “irreversible” fact. His statement came in response to figures released by the Israeli Interior Ministry, showing nearly 400,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

Dayan is running in the Jewish Home primaries in two weeks’ time, hoping to sit in the Knesset following March elections. The secular advocate for the Jewish settlement movement in Judea and Samaria left the Likud party last month.

“In my period [as Yesha Council Chairman] the population grew by 35 percent, and the growth does not stop, on the contrary,” he told Israel National News.

“The international community understands that there will not be a Palestinian state here, and the left too – Tzipi [Livni] and Yitzhak [Herzog] – should sober up on the thought of what would happen if they abandoned Israel’s security to the [Palestinian Authority] and the terror to follow,” said Dayan.

Help Those Expelled from their Homes

The new Interior Ministry numbers show 389,250 Jews living in Judea and Samaria, a jump of 15,000 people since 2013. Another 375,000 live in ‘disputed’ neighbourhoods of Jerusalem over the 1949 Armistice line, such as French Hill, Sanhedria, Mount of Olives, and Mount Scopus.

Removing such a large population in favour of a future Palestinian state whose current proponents say cannot have a Jewish presence will likely prove impossible, as Dayan points out.

Last week, The Palestinian Authority released its census results which claimed Arabs would outnumber Jews in Greater Israel within five years. This claim is not new, as every year or so the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics uses questionable models to project astronomical Palestinian growth alongside minimal Israeli growth.