Sponsors of admission c'tee bill: We want to keep 'Zionist vision'

Knesset Members Israel Hasson and Shai Hermesh of Kadima and Uri Ariel of the National Union submitted a bill yesterday on the changes to be adopted among admission committees in small communities in the Galilee and the Negev. "This is about maintaining the Zionist vision," the MKs said.

The bill stipulated that among the committees' guiding criteria would be the candidate's age (which must be over 18), his or her financial ability to maintain a home in the community as well as suitability to the community's way of life and social fabric.

"Thirty years ago the state initiated the creation of a string of small communal settlements in the Galilee and Negev. These communities were intended to fulfill the government's aims of dispersing the population and allowing residents to pursue a communal-rural lifestyle based on social and cultural cohesion. Meeting those goals obligated us as legislators to ensure a system of filtering candidates for settlements in such communities," the bill said.