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Last update - 17:26 21/07/2009
Study: Settlements get more state funding than Israeli cities
By Reuters
Tags: settlers, West Bank 

Jewish settlements in the West Bank get significantly bigger slice of Israeli government financial help than municipalities in Israel itself, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The study by the Macro Center of the Israeli European Policy Network is entitled "Historical Political and Economic Impact of Jewish Settlements in the Occupied Territories."

The settler population is also growing more than three times faster than the population of Israel proper, says the report, which traces the development of Jewish settlements since the 1967 Six-Day War.
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The United States is calling on Israel to freeze all settlement activity so that stalled talks can resume with the Palestinians on a comprehensive peace deal that would determine the fate of settlements in a land-for-peace swap.

"While Israeli municipalities as a whole receive 34.7 percent of their income from [the government] and obtain another 64.3 percent from their own income, settlement municipalities obtain 57 percent from the [government], and only 42.8 percent from their own income," the study found.

Israel's government "allocates 4.1 percent its total budget for municipalities to settlements, although they constitute just 3.1 percent of the total Israeli population", the report adds.

It assesses the value of all buildings in the settlements, some of them commuter communities with no industry on-site to provide a significant source of revenue, at about $18 billion.

"Not only do settlements distort priorities of the Israeli government's decision-making process on economic, political and social issues -- the government of Israel proactively funds more than half of their existence too," said director Roby Nathanson.

The study's analysis shows that the hey-day of settlement construction was between 1977 and 1983, under the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, when more than 56 percent of settlements were built.

"Settlement activity declined dramatically after 1985," it states. In the first decade after 1967 it was limited to areas of sparse Palestinian population but later spread to areas of dense Palestinian settlement.

The bulk of construction is residential, mostly three to four-room dwellings. The total Jewish population reached 276,045 by the end of 2007 and at median age of 20 it is the youngest of any segment of the Israeli population.

"In the past 20 years, despite ongoing peace negotiations, the population of settlers in the West Bank has more than doubled, at a growth rate much higher than that of the general Israeli population," says the report.

"This increase could not have been achieved without the active support of all of the Israeli governments in this period," the study concluded.

Related articles:
  • Bradley Burston / The painful cost to Israel of its settler adventure
  • Cabinet rules to cease funding illegal West Bank outposts
  • Zvi Bar'el / Longing for the settlers of yore
  • Yesh Din report: Only 8% of Palestinian complaints against settlers result in indictment


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      1.   This Is Why A Boycott Is Critical 17:47  |  Yaakov Sullivan 21/07/09
      2.   The study`s results were from the years olmert was in power 17:52  |  Jason 21/07/09
      3.   Stop all funding of the settlements 18:06  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 21/07/09
      4.   This ought to end northridges claim that these 18:19  |  col southridge 21/07/09
      5.   Settlers have more influence 18:22  |  Mark Lincoln 21/07/09
      6.   Sullivan continues his streak! 18:26  |  Christopher 21/07/09
      7.   More money GOOD! More settlers GOOD! 19:02  |  petra 21/07/09
      8.   This shows that the state itself is the main culprit 20:12  |  Ben Alofs 21/07/09
      9.   Stop pampering the squatters 21:49  |  Mel O. Yello 21/07/09
      10.   distorted article 23:14  |  Yonason Herschlag 21/07/09
      11.   This IS NOT News - Now, What to Do About It? 23:36  |  B`galil 21/07/09
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