A private charity has announced plans to donate funds to local Arab councils in Israel, in a move that will substantially increase their budgets for public welfare.

The president of the National Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, approved this week the expansion of the group's operations in 20 Bedouin and Druze municipalities by NIS 1.7 million, in addition to the NIS 9 million it already supplies to other Arab municipalities.

Several Arab local councils could see their budgets tripled by the initiative. In Yafiya, near Nazareth, the council has pledged a donation of NIS 116,000, to augment preexisting local welfare budgets of only NIS 39,000. In Kafr Kana, where the local welfare budget stands at NIS 62,000, the charity has pledged NIS 188,000 in assistance.