Numerous articles covered the controversy of the Israeli Government decision to include settlements as part of "high priority" areas of the nation...
- Jerusalem Post: "Isolated settlements kept on 'priority map' - to Labor's dismay"
- CNN: "West Bank settlements to receive more funding under plan"
- Jerusalem Post: "Ashkelon mayor, Peace Now fume at spending preferences"
- YNET: "Labor ministers: Help periphery, not settlements"
- ARMY RADIO NEWS REPORT
- Jerusalem Post: "Peace Now: Gov't marked high-income settlements as 'priority areas'"
- Ma'ariv: "At Ashkelon's Expense"
Jerusalem Post: "Isolated settlements kept on 'priority map' - to Labor's dismay"
Dec. 13, 2009
GIL HOFFMAN and TOVAH LAZAROFF , THE JERUSALEM POST
The cabinet on Sunday is scheduled to approve the revised national priorities map that was released last Wednesday with the addition of several cities, but despite pressure from Labor, isolated settlements will not be excluded, sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Saturday night.
On Thursday night, Labor chairman Ehud Barak persuaded Netanyahu to add Ashkelon to the map of priorities, and the prime minister decided to also include the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, which is the third largest West Bank Jewish community.
Barak failed to convince Netanyahu to delay the vote on the map, however.
In a meeting on Friday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman persuaded the prime minister to also add two cities in the Galilee that have large immigrant populations: Migdal Ha'emek and Afula.
Beit She'an has also been rumored to be on its way onto the map, and the cabinet will vote to give NIS 50 million to the Druse villages Usufiya and Daliat al-Carmel.
But despite the additions of cities in the Negev and Galilee, Labor ministers are expected to decide in their ministerial meeting before the cabinet session to vote against the map.
"The increase in the Arab population included in the map from eight percent to 40% is an important accomplishment, but as long as [Samarian settlements] Itamar and Yitzhar are in, we will vote against the map," said a spokesman for minister-without-portfolio Avishay Braverman, who is responsible for the Israeli-Arab population.
According to Peace Now, 91 out of 121 settlements are on the list, including many settlements in isolated West Bank spots located beyond the security barrier.
Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog said that from his standpoint, as long as the isolated settlements were included, nothing had changed. He said he would harshly condemn the map in Sunday's Labor ministerial meeting.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office said that some 1.9 million people would be included in the priority area. The more than 120,000 residents of Judea and Samaria on the list represented only a small fraction of those impacted by the map, said the source.
Security is one of the primary reasons settlements are included within a national priority area, but those on the list are also slated to receive preferential governmental treatment and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
The map was last revised in 2002 under former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who placed all the settlements on the map. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert was in the midst of redrawing the map in a way that would have excluded most of the settlements, but was unable to complete the task before he left office.
The US was not appraised in advance of plans to place 91 settlements on the revised national priorities map, but talks were held between the Prime Minister's Office and Washington on the issue Thursday once the matter was publicized in Israel.
Israel promised the US that the placement of settlements on the list was not an attempt to roll back the 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction that was instituted at the end of November in an attempt to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table.
The US has been assured that the incentives given to the settlements as a result of being on the map will have nothing to do with housing or construction.
Settlements on the map have not received housing incentives for at least the last seven years, said Gush Etzion Region Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein, who added that even then the benefits they received were comparable to other areas on the map.
He added that at present they are not always eligible for all the services afforded communities in national priority areas.
Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, said he hoped the cabinet would approve the map with the 91 settlements included, even though he would have wanted all the settlements on the map.
If security was the first criteria, there was no reason to exclude settlements, since all his communities were vulnerable, he said.
But Goldstein noted that some of the settlements in his area, such as Elon Shvut and Neve Daniel, which were excluded from the map, did not have the same security needs as others in his region.
On Saturday night, Ma'aleh Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel told The Jerusalem Post he did not have confirmation from the Prime Minister's Office that his city would be included on the map.
He first learned that it would be excluded at a Likud faction meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday, he said, he lobbied both the cabinet secretary and the Prime Minister's Office to include his settlement on the map. They told him they would weigh its inclusion, but made no promises, Kashriel said.
The fact that the city was vulnerable from a security perspective had everything to do with the government's failure to construct the security barrier around the city as planned, he said.
Kashriel added that he was already paying NIS 7 million from his own budget to provide security to the residents.
Only once the security barrier is constructed can the government start to talk about dropping Ma'aleh Adumim from the list, he added.
Hagit Ofran of Peace Now said that none of the settlements should be included on the map. She said the decision was a political one and had nothing to do with security.
Ofran added that it was possible to ensure the safety of those who lived in the settlements without taking a step such as this one, which she said would endanger the peace process.
http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447422214&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/13/israel.settlements/
CNN: "West Bank settlements to receive more funding under plan"
From Shira Medding, CNN
Jerusalem (CNN) -- The Israeli government on Sunday approved a controversial plan that would classify a number of West Bank settlements as "National Priority Zones," meaning they are entitled to millions of shekels in funding.
The plan was approved on a 21-5 vote, according to government spokesman David Baker.
National Priority Zones are granted millions in funding for education and vocational training. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal of the plan is to "help close the gaps that have been created between the various parts of the country."
The plan would include about 2 million citizens, including 40 percent of Israel's non-Jewish population, Netanyahu said. Of that 2 million, 100,000 are West Bank settlers -- and the first-time inclusion of the settlements was not popular with everyone.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a Cabinet meeting that "the population of the settlements were represented beyond their proportional weight in society." Also, Barak said, "there are a number of small settlements that continuously are a source of extreme behavior that harms life in the West Bank ... and they should not be awarded a prize by including them in the National Priority Zone."
The funding for housing would not apply to settlers, so the plan does not contradict the government's recently-approved settlement freeze in the West Bank, government spokesman Mark Regev said. But Yariv Oppenheimer, a spokesman for the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now, called the approval outrageous.
"This decision proves that the government actively and practically wants to continue and invest and encourage the settlements," he said. "All their talk about freezing settlements apart from natural growth becomes irrelevant when the government actively encourages investment in these areas."
The priority zones are areas disadvantaged because of residents' socioeconomic situations and security threats, among other factors.
"We are providing benefits in education, employment and infrastructures," Netanyahu said. "We are also trying to provide tangible aid to those who bear the security burden every day."
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina said the government's decision "shows again that the Israeli government is not serious about the so-called moratorium settlement freeze which they announced several weeks ago" and also shows "that they are doing [their] best to continue their settlement construction activities and to ruin the efforts of President Obama and his administration."
"There should be [an] immediate American response in order to keep the glimpse of hope for any peaceful deal in the future," he said, saying the vote "is a direct message to Obama and his administration that they [Israelis] are not ready for peace."
Netanyahu's government announced a freeze on settlements in the West Bank after the Obama administration requested a ban to jump-start the moribund peace process with the Palestinians. Announcing the freeze last month, Netanyahu appealed to the Palestinian Authority to take advantage of the 10-month "window" to resume negotiations.
Dany Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council, a group of Jewish municipal councils from the West Bank, told CNN earlier this month that settlements under construction would continue to be built.
Confrontations have erupted almost daily in the West Bank, which groups of settlers forcibly attempting to keep away inspectors enforcing the ban. Dayan indicated settlers would continue to refuse entry of government inspectors to settlements.
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Jerusalem Post: "Ashkelon mayor, Peace Now fume at spending preferences"
Dec. 10, 2009
ben hartman , THE JERUSALEM POST
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin on Thursday leveled harsh criticism at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposed redrawing of the "national priority areas" map, a realignment that would leave out Vaknin's city of over 100,000 near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Among the areas listed on Netanyahu's map are 91 West Bank settlements housing well over 100,000 Israelis. The settlements on the map - including those in the Jordan Valley, as well as Ariel, Nili, Betar Illit and Itamar - were selected because of security considerations. Many of the communities, but not all of them, are outside the large settlement blocs.
Overall, the new plan would include some 1.9 million people, 25 percent of Israel's population, including 40% of Israeli Arabs.
Vaknin told The Jerusalem Post the decision was "grave, mistaken and unreceptive to the realities in Ashkelon," and called on Netanyahu to reconsider.
Vaknin cited Ashkelon's proximity to the Gaza Strip and the fact that the coastal town had been heavily bombarded by Hamas rockets and missiles throughout last January's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
"Over the course of a month last year, 200 Grad missiles landed in and around the city, but we are stripped of the status given to other cities that were targeted," Vaknin said, citing Beersheba, Ofakim and Netivot, which remain on the national priority list.
The mayor added that during Cast Lead, when Netanyahu was heading the opposition, he had visited Ashkelon and vowed to help the city recover from the onslaught of Hamas missiles. Vaknin said "it is now up to Netanyahu to keep the promise he made to us."
According to Vaknin, losing national priority status would severely affect the ability of the municipality and its residents to pay their bills, and could mean the city would not be able to meet its education and welfare needs.
Vaknin added that he and members of his staff planned to meet with Prime Minister's Office director-general Eyal Gabai and demand that Netanyahu reconsider the allotment, saying if the demands were not met, they would launch a protest in Ashkelon against the move.
Netanyahu's bureau announced the plan to reporters on Wednesday and sent ministers a map of the new priority areas ahead of a vote on the realignment at Sunday's cabinet meeting.
On Thursday, Gabai said the towns gerrymandered into the priority areas had received such status because of national security needs.
Towns and municipal councils within the new boundaries will receive preferential treatment from the state and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
Peace Now also slammed the new national priority areas map on Thursday, saying that the realignment was based on ideology and not on security or socioeconomic considerations - the two reasons traditionally given for inclusion in a national priority area.
Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer told the Post that the organization saw the claims of socioeconomic considerations as disingenuous, saying that Netanyahu had redrawn the map in order to gain favor with the Right, especially in the wake of the settlement construction freeze he instituted last week.
"We studied these areas and found that the quality of life in the settlements is much higher than in the rest of Israel," Oppenheimer said. "These benefits are meant to help close socioeconomic gaps. In our research, we found that in most of these places in the West Bank, there is no socioeconomic gap to cover, not when compared to the rest of Israel."
He added, "When you take something that is meant to help poor areas and use it to strengthen your standing with the right wing, it can easily be seen as a political maneuver."
In a report published on the group's Web site Thursday, Peace Now lists a number of statistics comparing quality-of-life measurements in parts of the West Bank included in the new priority areas to those of Israeli cities within the Green Line.
Peace Now's data indicates that the median income for a family in the settlements is NIS 13,566, 10% higher than the national average of NIS 12,343 per month. In terms of unemployment, Peace Now reports that the settlement average is 6.5%, compared to 7.3% in Israel.
Peace Now argues that socioeconomic conditions in the settlements compared to the rest of Israel are actually higher overall than the numbers indicate, considering that a third of the settlement population is ultra-Orthodox and significantly poorer than the national average.
The left-wing group's statistics also reveal the socioeconomic gap between cities recently put on the list, and communities within the Green Line that were formerly on the list, to be quite large. For example, its report shows the average monthly wage in Ashdod and Ramle to be NIS 4,832 and NIS 4,428 respectively, while West Bank settlement Efrat, which is included in the priority areas, has an average monthly wage of NIS 7,793.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447411561&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
YNET: "Labor ministers: Help periphery, not settlements"
Ministers slam Netanyahu's decision to recognize isolated settlements as national development areas. MK Cabel: These settlements will not remain in our hands in any final status map. Peace Now: Strengthening strong at expense of weak
Attila Somfalvi
Latest Update: 12.10.09, 13:23 / Israel News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to allocate budget to some isolated settlements for incentives as part of the national regional priorities plan, has drawn a potent political reaction.
Harsh criticism was leveled at the move during a meeting of Labor ministers Thursday. The Labor ministers agreed that they will take action to change the map of national priority areas regarding certain West Bank settlements that they believe cannot justifiably be made into
preferred settlements.
Among the settlements added to the list of regional priorities are no small number of isolated settlements that are not part of settlement blocs east of the separation fence. They include: Itamar, Alon Moreh, Tapuah, Bracha, Kiryat Arba, Adora, Bat Ayin, and Nokadim.
Also included in the list is the Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, in which, according to Peace Now figures, live 143,425 people.
Areas designated as "national priority A" are granted government benefits and incentives in education, housing, urban development, labor, and infrastructure.
Weighed in the decision on which towns to include in the list were the town's security situation, its economic and social fortitude, the level of services offered, population distribution planning, geographic location, distance from the center of the country, gaps in the population, and the level of burden to absorb new immigrants.
Most of the meeting's participants criticized the move, including Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avishay Braverman, Isaac Herzog, and Daniel Ben-Simon. They demanded that only settlements located in settlement blocs be bolstered. "It was clear that action needed to be taken for changes in the map," said one of the ministers.
Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded in vague language: "There are certain considerations that are legitimate, and there are considerations that need additional examination."
It was agreed upon in the meeting that talks will be held on the matter with the Prime Minister's Office and that the defense minister's advisor on the settlements will also be involved.
Cabel: Saving settlements instead of Tefron
MK Eitan Cabel, one of the Labor 'rebels', sent a scathing letter Thursday to his party's cabinet ministers: "Whom exactly are you saving? The employees of the Tefron factory? The collapsing periphery? The middle class? The city of Ashkelon, all of whose benefits have been cancelled?"
"Gentlemen, in the past few hours, news that the government you are members of is about to declare isolated settlements as development areas has come out," wrote Cabel. "These are settlements whose socio-economic level is very good, settlements that will not remain in our hands in any final status map because the vast majority of them are outside the settlement blocs."
According to Cabel, these settlements "have nothing to do with the ideology for which you were elected, and to them the government will transfer funds while you remain in the government. Vote against this during Sunday morning's vote and explain in the afternoon that there is no other choice; that you are saving the people of Israel by sitting in the extreme right government; that if you weren't members of the government, our situation would be much worse."
"I understand that you have already given up on the banner of peace," added Cabel. "If you hadn't given up on it, you wouldn't have kept quiet as the prime minister announced that he will return to building in the West Bank at the end of the 10 months of the so-called freeze. But have you given up on the rest of the social banner remaining in the party? Do the settlers really need this money that is so needed in so many corners of the country?"
On the Labor chairman and defense minister, Cabel wrote: "I have already given up on Ehud Barak. He long ago lost all connection with reality and the Israeli public and has proved it time and again. But you - are you, like him, so connected to the power that has blinded your eyes from seeing the injustices you, too, are responsible for as ministers in this government? You have forgotten from whence you came, and you have no idea where you are headed as you call me and my colleagues 'rebels.'"
MK Amir Peretz, another member of the four Labor 'rebels,' joined in the protest: "The decision to recognize isolated settlements as national development areas seems in essence like another attempt to create a sedative for the settlers. Using the defense excuse is out of place.
"The situation in the West Bank will only improve. This decision damages the chances for peace and creates another negative dynamic, further oppresses the development areas in the periphery in the Negev and the Galilee. Comparing the conditions in the settlements to those in the periphery will only accelerate investments beyond the Green Line, mainly in industry at the expense of development towns," said Peretz.
Peace Now does not see any justification in adding the isolated settlements to the national priority map. According to figures published Thursday by the organization, many of the settlements added to the list have quite satisfactory socio-economic levels, certainly better than many towns within the Green Line that don't receive government incentives.
Peace Now claimed that the plan "is an anti-social proposal that seeks strengthen the strong on the backs of the weakest populations in the society."
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12/10
ARMY RADIO NEWS REPORT
* Peace Now report: A Peace Now report states that the socio-economic situation in the settlements is higher than the national average and therefore they should not be recognized as national priority areas. The document, based on figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics, shows that the rate of unemployment in Judea and Samaria settlements is 6.5% compared to just over 7% in the rest of the country. In Efrat, which will receive economic benefits from the state, the average income per person is NIS 7,790 compared to NIS 4,800 in Ashdod, which will not receive any benefits.
Tuli Sheinfeld, the secretary of the settlement of Nokdim, told Army Radio that the benefits were justified: "The importance of Nokdim and Tekoa is that they buttress Jerusalem. Just like Pisgat Zeev and Givat Zeev do from the north and the east, the western and eastern Etzion Blocs complete this circle and provide a populated rear to Jerusalem."
Ashdod Mayor Benny Vaknin, whose city was removed from the new map of national priority areas, harshly criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I call on him to wield his authority and not only listen to bureaucrats, to keep the promises he made a month before elections, to simply open his eyes and not land a death blow on a city that has just begun to recover from the war."
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Jerusalem Post: "Labor ministers slam priority areas map"
Dec. 10, 2009
JPost.com staff and Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
Labor ministers on Thursday voiced harsh criticism over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new map of "priority areas" that includes dozens of settlements housing some 110,000 people.
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Minority Affairs Minister Avishai Braverman and Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog all criticized the decision, while demanding the prime minister allocate more funds to the development of the Negev and the Galilee.
The Prime Minister's Office briefed reporters on the plan on Wednesday evening and sent ministers the map ahead of a vote set for Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Those inside the map would receive preferential governmental treatment and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
MK Ophir Paz-Pines called upon Labor ministers to decide that preferential treatment for isolated settlements constitutes a red line for Labor participation in the government.
"The time has come to back up their words with actions. It is hard for me to believe that Barak is isolated from the topic, and was not a partner in drawing up the map, especially when it is known that ministers and MKs were involved in the consultations."
"What are 10 months of freeze compared to the giant multi-year benefits plan?! It is clear now tha thte decision on the settlement freeze was simply a smoke grenade in order to distract public attention away from the map of national preference, which prioritizes the settlements. The flow of budget funds to the settlements according to the map, has a strategic impact on the building and development of settlements."
"Beyond spitting in the face of the periphery, approval of the map will bring about the final end for the chances for peace, will cause an unprecedented breakdown of Israeli-American relations and will isolate Israel as the ultimate anti-peace state. If this map is approved by the government, the Labor Party must immediately resign.
Labor 'rebel' MK Eitan Cabel sent a letter to the Labor ministerial meeting Thursday ahead of an internal vote on the plan, saying "[Defense Minister Ehud] Barak has lost touch with reality and he proves it time after time. Are you also like him?"
Barak and other Labor ministers are expected to endorse the decision.
Cabel also attacked the ministers for not responding to the PMO briefing already on Wednesday. Expressing frustration that they did not hurry to criticize the prioritization of settlers instead of residents of the periphery, Cabel asked, "Who exactly are you rescuing? employees of Tefron [a textile factory in danger of closing down]? the crashing economy? The city of Ashkelon that gets no benefits? Do the settlers really need this money when so much is needed in so many corners of the country?"
"Are you so strongly welded to your seats of power that your eyes have become blinded to the disgraces that you, also, are responsible for as ministers of this government?" Cabel wrote to the ministers.
The settlements are part of the larger map delineating the country's priority areas that takes in about 1.9 million people, or some 25 percent of the population, including some 40% of Israeli Arabs.
Prime Minister's Office Director-General Eyal Gabai stressed on Thursday that the message of the plan was one of joining the periphery to the center and giving Arab citizens equal rights, Israel Radio reported.
On Wednesday, Gabai had pointed out that the housing incentives would not be available to the settlements during the moratorium period.
The settlements on the map - including those in the Jordan Valley as well as Ariel, Nili, Betar Illit, Itamar and others - were selected because of security considerations. Many of the communities, but not all of them, are outside the large settlement blocs.
The criteria for determining which settlements were to get preferential treatment included the security situation in the area, economic strength, the quality of the municipal services, distance from the center of the country and the degree to which the communities absorbed new immigrants.
The primary significance of being designated a preferred area is that the various ministers will have the authority to direct additional funds there.
MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima), chairman of the State Control Committee, called on the prime minister to notify the committee on the exact criteria that were used to create the map.
"After getting all the answers from the prime minister, I intend to conduct a committee debate in order to establish whether the proper considerations went in to drawing the new priority areas map or whether there were other considerations," Hasson said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, according to a Peace Now report published Thursday, the socioeconomic status of those residing in settlements is higher than the national average. Peace Now concluded that in light of the statistics, there were no grounds for West Bank settlements to be included in the priority areas map.
The report stated that the unemployment rate in the settlements of Judea and Samaria stands at 6.5 percent, while the national unemployment rate is 7%. According to the statistics, the average income in Efrat - one of the settlements marked as a "priority area" - is NIS 7,790 per capita, NIS 3,000 higher than the average income in Ashdod.
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Jerusalem Post: "Peace Now: Gov't marked high-income settlements as 'priority areas'"
Dec. 10, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
The socioeconomic status of those residing in settlements is higher than the national average, according to a report published Thursday by grassroots organization Peace Now.
Peace Now concluded that in light of the statistics, there are no grounds for West Bank settlements to be included in the map delineating the country's "priority areas," marked for government incentives in education, housing, employment and more.
The report stated that the unemployment rate in the settlements of Judea and Samaria stands at 6.5 percent, while the national unemployment rate is 7%.
According to the statistics, the average income in Efrat - one of the settlements marked as a "priority area" - is NIS 7,790 per capita, NIS 3,000 higher than the average income in Ashdod.
http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181038143&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
12/13
Ma'ariv: "At Ashkelon's Expense"
by Yael Paz-Melamed -- 110 thousand people live in Ashkelon. Exactly the number of settlers whose favor the prime minister hopes to win. For time eternal the huge financial support granted to the settlers population, including the isolated settlements, came at the expense of cities and towns in the periphery. Tens of billions of shekels, which were invested over the years across Judea and Samaria in building multi-lane roads, settlements with few inhabitants, public facilities and so forth, were taken from the limited public coffers. When you give in one place, your always taking from some other place. Not always does the huge financial investment of Israel in its settlers stand in such stark comparison to what it gives to those who live within the Green Line.
This time the truth is crying out: cities such as Ashkelon and Ashdod will stop receiving support and assistance as cities of national priority; the settlement of Itamar, the wealthy settlement of Nokdim, and the even wealthier settlement of Karnei Shomron, will all be getting it on their expense.
It is enough to frighten Binyamin Netanyahu by sending hundreds of religious high school girls and a few more hundred of yeshiva boys from all across Judea and Samaria, in order to change the national priorities.
Bibi does not fear the residents of Ashkelon, and rightly so. They will continue to vote for him and the Likud, even if their houses are taken from them and given to the settlers. They are the Likud's captivate base, which was indeed once a party that represented the less wealthy sectors of society, and lifted the heads of those of eastern decent and provided them with a home and party to identify with.
All this has long since passed from the world; however residents of the periphery maintain their loyalty to the Likud. It is true that this loyalty has been somewhat undermined, and it is true that Netanyahu was brought to the ground due to the abandonment of the weak sectors of the population during his tenure as finance minister, but this was mostly a protest vote and not an fundamental change in voting behavior. Politically Netanyahu fears only the right wing. They are the ones that can set the land ablaze with their protests, remind him of his faulty promises, to put his rule in jeopardy. With the residents of Ashkelon he'll do all right. Fifteen year-old high school girls will not assemble in the squares and the streets over there. Neither will their parents. The rules of the game are known to both sides. The settlers know that another two or three years of demonstrations with 10,000 participants, which they will inflate in the media to 50,000, and Netanyahu will be forever in their pocket. They will continue to command government decisions, as they always have. Netanyahu knows that he is better off appeasing the settlers and not residents of the periphery, because they are in his pocket regardless. There is no need to make an effort for them. And residents of Ashkelon, for that matter, know that nothing they do will be of any avail anyway. They have lost to the settlements from the very beginning, despite everyone knowing that no city is more entitled than theirs to be of national priority.
Netanyahu's mistake is that he believes he is capable of halting the protests, some of which are violent, against him. He believes that if he distributes perks to the settlers, transforms them to towns of national priority, which is of no small cost, they will be placated and will immediately welcome the construction freeze orders handed to them by the inspectors. This idea is surely amusing to them. It amuses us all. They have always demanded everything. And they have always gotten it all. Why should they stop now?
According to the Peace Now report, all West Bank communities receiving national priority status are of high socio-economic status, unemployment figures are low and education is good, which is also due to money. All these parameters are contrary to those set by the High Court of Justice when it instructed that the national priority areas be redistributed. Thus the Prime Minister's Office cannot gloss over having restructured the plan in accordance to its orders. However the few voters of Labor ought to remember this moment, in which a government in which their party is a member, has removed Ashkelon, a peripheral city, from the nation's priorities and instead put in places like Nokdim, Itamar and Kiryat Arba.
Dec. 13, 2009
GIL HOFFMAN and TOVAH LAZAROFF , THE JERUSALEM POST
The cabinet on Sunday is scheduled to approve the revised national priorities map that was released last Wednesday with the addition of several cities, but despite pressure from Labor, isolated settlements will not be excluded, sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Saturday night.
On Thursday night, Labor chairman Ehud Barak persuaded Netanyahu to add Ashkelon to the map of priorities, and the prime minister decided to also include the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, which is the third largest West Bank Jewish community.
Barak failed to convince Netanyahu to delay the vote on the map, however.
In a meeting on Friday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman persuaded the prime minister to also add two cities in the Galilee that have large immigrant populations: Migdal Ha'emek and Afula.
Beit She'an has also been rumored to be on its way onto the map, and the cabinet will vote to give NIS 50 million to the Druse villages Usufiya and Daliat al-Carmel.
But despite the additions of cities in the Negev and Galilee, Labor ministers are expected to decide in their ministerial meeting before the cabinet session to vote against the map.
"The increase in the Arab population included in the map from eight percent to 40% is an important accomplishment, but as long as [Samarian settlements] Itamar and Yitzhar are in, we will vote against the map," said a spokesman for minister-without-portfolio Avishay Braverman, who is responsible for the Israeli-Arab population.
According to Peace Now, 91 out of 121 settlements are on the list, including many settlements in isolated West Bank spots located beyond the security barrier.
Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog said that from his standpoint, as long as the isolated settlements were included, nothing had changed. He said he would harshly condemn the map in Sunday's Labor ministerial meeting.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office said that some 1.9 million people would be included in the priority area. The more than 120,000 residents of Judea and Samaria on the list represented only a small fraction of those impacted by the map, said the source.
Security is one of the primary reasons settlements are included within a national priority area, but those on the list are also slated to receive preferential governmental treatment and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
The map was last revised in 2002 under former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who placed all the settlements on the map. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert was in the midst of redrawing the map in a way that would have excluded most of the settlements, but was unable to complete the task before he left office.
The US was not appraised in advance of plans to place 91 settlements on the revised national priorities map, but talks were held between the Prime Minister's Office and Washington on the issue Thursday once the matter was publicized in Israel.
Israel promised the US that the placement of settlements on the list was not an attempt to roll back the 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction that was instituted at the end of November in an attempt to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table.
The US has been assured that the incentives given to the settlements as a result of being on the map will have nothing to do with housing or construction.
Settlements on the map have not received housing incentives for at least the last seven years, said Gush Etzion Region Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein, who added that even then the benefits they received were comparable to other areas on the map.
He added that at present they are not always eligible for all the services afforded communities in national priority areas.
Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, said he hoped the cabinet would approve the map with the 91 settlements included, even though he would have wanted all the settlements on the map.
If security was the first criteria, there was no reason to exclude settlements, since all his communities were vulnerable, he said.
But Goldstein noted that some of the settlements in his area, such as Elon Shvut and Neve Daniel, which were excluded from the map, did not have the same security needs as others in his region.
On Saturday night, Ma'aleh Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel told The Jerusalem Post he did not have confirmation from the Prime Minister's Office that his city would be included on the map.
He first learned that it would be excluded at a Likud faction meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday, he said, he lobbied both the cabinet secretary and the Prime Minister's Office to include his settlement on the map. They told him they would weigh its inclusion, but made no promises, Kashriel said.
The fact that the city was vulnerable from a security perspective had everything to do with the government's failure to construct the security barrier around the city as planned, he said.
Kashriel added that he was already paying NIS 7 million from his own budget to provide security to the residents.
Only once the security barrier is constructed can the government start to talk about dropping Ma'aleh Adumim from the list, he added.
Hagit Ofran of Peace Now said that none of the settlements should be included on the map. She said the decision was a political one and had nothing to do with security.
Ofran added that it was possible to ensure the safety of those who lived in the settlements without taking a step such as this one, which she said would endanger the peace process.
http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447422214&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/13/israel.settlements/
CNN: "West Bank settlements to receive more funding under plan"
From Shira Medding, CNN
Jerusalem (CNN) -- The Israeli government on Sunday approved a controversial plan that would classify a number of West Bank settlements as "National Priority Zones," meaning they are entitled to millions of shekels in funding.
The plan was approved on a 21-5 vote, according to government spokesman David Baker.
National Priority Zones are granted millions in funding for education and vocational training. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal of the plan is to "help close the gaps that have been created between the various parts of the country."
The plan would include about 2 million citizens, including 40 percent of Israel's non-Jewish population, Netanyahu said. Of that 2 million, 100,000 are West Bank settlers -- and the first-time inclusion of the settlements was not popular with everyone.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a Cabinet meeting that "the population of the settlements were represented beyond their proportional weight in society." Also, Barak said, "there are a number of small settlements that continuously are a source of extreme behavior that harms life in the West Bank ... and they should not be awarded a prize by including them in the National Priority Zone."
The funding for housing would not apply to settlers, so the plan does not contradict the government's recently-approved settlement freeze in the West Bank, government spokesman Mark Regev said. But Yariv Oppenheimer, a spokesman for the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now, called the approval outrageous.
"This decision proves that the government actively and practically wants to continue and invest and encourage the settlements," he said. "All their talk about freezing settlements apart from natural growth becomes irrelevant when the government actively encourages investment in these areas."
The priority zones are areas disadvantaged because of residents' socioeconomic situations and security threats, among other factors.
"We are providing benefits in education, employment and infrastructures," Netanyahu said. "We are also trying to provide tangible aid to those who bear the security burden every day."
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina said the government's decision "shows again that the Israeli government is not serious about the so-called moratorium settlement freeze which they announced several weeks ago" and also shows "that they are doing [their] best to continue their settlement construction activities and to ruin the efforts of President Obama and his administration."
"There should be [an] immediate American response in order to keep the glimpse of hope for any peaceful deal in the future," he said, saying the vote "is a direct message to Obama and his administration that they [Israelis] are not ready for peace."
Netanyahu's government announced a freeze on settlements in the West Bank after the Obama administration requested a ban to jump-start the moribund peace process with the Palestinians. Announcing the freeze last month, Netanyahu appealed to the Palestinian Authority to take advantage of the 10-month "window" to resume negotiations.
Dany Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council, a group of Jewish municipal councils from the West Bank, told CNN earlier this month that settlements under construction would continue to be built.
Confrontations have erupted almost daily in the West Bank, which groups of settlers forcibly attempting to keep away inspectors enforcing the ban. Dayan indicated settlers would continue to refuse entry of government inspectors to settlements.
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Jerusalem Post: "Ashkelon mayor, Peace Now fume at spending preferences"
Dec. 10, 2009
ben hartman , THE JERUSALEM POST
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin on Thursday leveled harsh criticism at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposed redrawing of the "national priority areas" map, a realignment that would leave out Vaknin's city of over 100,000 near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Among the areas listed on Netanyahu's map are 91 West Bank settlements housing well over 100,000 Israelis. The settlements on the map - including those in the Jordan Valley, as well as Ariel, Nili, Betar Illit and Itamar - were selected because of security considerations. Many of the communities, but not all of them, are outside the large settlement blocs.
Overall, the new plan would include some 1.9 million people, 25 percent of Israel's population, including 40% of Israeli Arabs.
Vaknin told The Jerusalem Post the decision was "grave, mistaken and unreceptive to the realities in Ashkelon," and called on Netanyahu to reconsider.
Vaknin cited Ashkelon's proximity to the Gaza Strip and the fact that the coastal town had been heavily bombarded by Hamas rockets and missiles throughout last January's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
"Over the course of a month last year, 200 Grad missiles landed in and around the city, but we are stripped of the status given to other cities that were targeted," Vaknin said, citing Beersheba, Ofakim and Netivot, which remain on the national priority list.
The mayor added that during Cast Lead, when Netanyahu was heading the opposition, he had visited Ashkelon and vowed to help the city recover from the onslaught of Hamas missiles. Vaknin said "it is now up to Netanyahu to keep the promise he made to us."
According to Vaknin, losing national priority status would severely affect the ability of the municipality and its residents to pay their bills, and could mean the city would not be able to meet its education and welfare needs.
Vaknin added that he and members of his staff planned to meet with Prime Minister's Office director-general Eyal Gabai and demand that Netanyahu reconsider the allotment, saying if the demands were not met, they would launch a protest in Ashkelon against the move.
Netanyahu's bureau announced the plan to reporters on Wednesday and sent ministers a map of the new priority areas ahead of a vote on the realignment at Sunday's cabinet meeting.
On Thursday, Gabai said the towns gerrymandered into the priority areas had received such status because of national security needs.
Towns and municipal councils within the new boundaries will receive preferential treatment from the state and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
Peace Now also slammed the new national priority areas map on Thursday, saying that the realignment was based on ideology and not on security or socioeconomic considerations - the two reasons traditionally given for inclusion in a national priority area.
Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer told the Post that the organization saw the claims of socioeconomic considerations as disingenuous, saying that Netanyahu had redrawn the map in order to gain favor with the Right, especially in the wake of the settlement construction freeze he instituted last week.
"We studied these areas and found that the quality of life in the settlements is much higher than in the rest of Israel," Oppenheimer said. "These benefits are meant to help close socioeconomic gaps. In our research, we found that in most of these places in the West Bank, there is no socioeconomic gap to cover, not when compared to the rest of Israel."
He added, "When you take something that is meant to help poor areas and use it to strengthen your standing with the right wing, it can easily be seen as a political maneuver."
In a report published on the group's Web site Thursday, Peace Now lists a number of statistics comparing quality-of-life measurements in parts of the West Bank included in the new priority areas to those of Israeli cities within the Green Line.
Peace Now's data indicates that the median income for a family in the settlements is NIS 13,566, 10% higher than the national average of NIS 12,343 per month. In terms of unemployment, Peace Now reports that the settlement average is 6.5%, compared to 7.3% in Israel.
Peace Now argues that socioeconomic conditions in the settlements compared to the rest of Israel are actually higher overall than the numbers indicate, considering that a third of the settlement population is ultra-Orthodox and significantly poorer than the national average.
The left-wing group's statistics also reveal the socioeconomic gap between cities recently put on the list, and communities within the Green Line that were formerly on the list, to be quite large. For example, its report shows the average monthly wage in Ashdod and Ramle to be NIS 4,832 and NIS 4,428 respectively, while West Bank settlement Efrat, which is included in the priority areas, has an average monthly wage of NIS 7,793.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447411561&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
YNET: "Labor ministers: Help periphery, not settlements"
Ministers slam Netanyahu's decision to recognize isolated settlements as national development areas. MK Cabel: These settlements will not remain in our hands in any final status map. Peace Now: Strengthening strong at expense of weak
Attila Somfalvi
Latest Update: 12.10.09, 13:23 / Israel News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to allocate budget to some isolated settlements for incentives as part of the national regional priorities plan, has drawn a potent political reaction.
Harsh criticism was leveled at the move during a meeting of Labor ministers Thursday. The Labor ministers agreed that they will take action to change the map of national priority areas regarding certain West Bank settlements that they believe cannot justifiably be made into
preferred settlements.
Among the settlements added to the list of regional priorities are no small number of isolated settlements that are not part of settlement blocs east of the separation fence. They include: Itamar, Alon Moreh, Tapuah, Bracha, Kiryat Arba, Adora, Bat Ayin, and Nokadim.
Also included in the list is the Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, in which, according to Peace Now figures, live 143,425 people.
Areas designated as "national priority A" are granted government benefits and incentives in education, housing, urban development, labor, and infrastructure.
Weighed in the decision on which towns to include in the list were the town's security situation, its economic and social fortitude, the level of services offered, population distribution planning, geographic location, distance from the center of the country, gaps in the population, and the level of burden to absorb new immigrants.
Most of the meeting's participants criticized the move, including Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avishay Braverman, Isaac Herzog, and Daniel Ben-Simon. They demanded that only settlements located in settlement blocs be bolstered. "It was clear that action needed to be taken for changes in the map," said one of the ministers.
Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded in vague language: "There are certain considerations that are legitimate, and there are considerations that need additional examination."
It was agreed upon in the meeting that talks will be held on the matter with the Prime Minister's Office and that the defense minister's advisor on the settlements will also be involved.
Cabel: Saving settlements instead of Tefron
MK Eitan Cabel, one of the Labor 'rebels', sent a scathing letter Thursday to his party's cabinet ministers: "Whom exactly are you saving? The employees of the Tefron factory? The collapsing periphery? The middle class? The city of Ashkelon, all of whose benefits have been cancelled?"
"Gentlemen, in the past few hours, news that the government you are members of is about to declare isolated settlements as development areas has come out," wrote Cabel. "These are settlements whose socio-economic level is very good, settlements that will not remain in our hands in any final status map because the vast majority of them are outside the settlement blocs."
According to Cabel, these settlements "have nothing to do with the ideology for which you were elected, and to them the government will transfer funds while you remain in the government. Vote against this during Sunday morning's vote and explain in the afternoon that there is no other choice; that you are saving the people of Israel by sitting in the extreme right government; that if you weren't members of the government, our situation would be much worse."
"I understand that you have already given up on the banner of peace," added Cabel. "If you hadn't given up on it, you wouldn't have kept quiet as the prime minister announced that he will return to building in the West Bank at the end of the 10 months of the so-called freeze. But have you given up on the rest of the social banner remaining in the party? Do the settlers really need this money that is so needed in so many corners of the country?"
On the Labor chairman and defense minister, Cabel wrote: "I have already given up on Ehud Barak. He long ago lost all connection with reality and the Israeli public and has proved it time and again. But you - are you, like him, so connected to the power that has blinded your eyes from seeing the injustices you, too, are responsible for as ministers in this government? You have forgotten from whence you came, and you have no idea where you are headed as you call me and my colleagues 'rebels.'"
MK Amir Peretz, another member of the four Labor 'rebels,' joined in the protest: "The decision to recognize isolated settlements as national development areas seems in essence like another attempt to create a sedative for the settlers. Using the defense excuse is out of place.
"The situation in the West Bank will only improve. This decision damages the chances for peace and creates another negative dynamic, further oppresses the development areas in the periphery in the Negev and the Galilee. Comparing the conditions in the settlements to those in the periphery will only accelerate investments beyond the Green Line, mainly in industry at the expense of development towns," said Peretz.
Peace Now does not see any justification in adding the isolated settlements to the national priority map. According to figures published Thursday by the organization, many of the settlements added to the list have quite satisfactory socio-economic levels, certainly better than many towns within the Green Line that don't receive government incentives.
Peace Now claimed that the plan "is an anti-social proposal that seeks strengthen the strong on the backs of the weakest populations in the society."
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12/10
ARMY RADIO NEWS REPORT
* Peace Now report: A Peace Now report states that the socio-economic situation in the settlements is higher than the national average and therefore they should not be recognized as national priority areas. The document, based on figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics, shows that the rate of unemployment in Judea and Samaria settlements is 6.5% compared to just over 7% in the rest of the country. In Efrat, which will receive economic benefits from the state, the average income per person is NIS 7,790 compared to NIS 4,800 in Ashdod, which will not receive any benefits.
Tuli Sheinfeld, the secretary of the settlement of Nokdim, told Army Radio that the benefits were justified: "The importance of Nokdim and Tekoa is that they buttress Jerusalem. Just like Pisgat Zeev and Givat Zeev do from the north and the east, the western and eastern Etzion Blocs complete this circle and provide a populated rear to Jerusalem."
Ashdod Mayor Benny Vaknin, whose city was removed from the new map of national priority areas, harshly criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I call on him to wield his authority and not only listen to bureaucrats, to keep the promises he made a month before elections, to simply open his eyes and not land a death blow on a city that has just begun to recover from the war."
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Jerusalem Post: "Labor ministers slam priority areas map"
Dec. 10, 2009
JPost.com staff and Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
Labor ministers on Thursday voiced harsh criticism over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new map of "priority areas" that includes dozens of settlements housing some 110,000 people.
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Minority Affairs Minister Avishai Braverman and Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog all criticized the decision, while demanding the prime minister allocate more funds to the development of the Negev and the Galilee.
The Prime Minister's Office briefed reporters on the plan on Wednesday evening and sent ministers the map ahead of a vote set for Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Those inside the map would receive preferential governmental treatment and incentives for education, housing, infrastructure and employment.
MK Ophir Paz-Pines called upon Labor ministers to decide that preferential treatment for isolated settlements constitutes a red line for Labor participation in the government.
"The time has come to back up their words with actions. It is hard for me to believe that Barak is isolated from the topic, and was not a partner in drawing up the map, especially when it is known that ministers and MKs were involved in the consultations."
"What are 10 months of freeze compared to the giant multi-year benefits plan?! It is clear now tha thte decision on the settlement freeze was simply a smoke grenade in order to distract public attention away from the map of national preference, which prioritizes the settlements. The flow of budget funds to the settlements according to the map, has a strategic impact on the building and development of settlements."
"Beyond spitting in the face of the periphery, approval of the map will bring about the final end for the chances for peace, will cause an unprecedented breakdown of Israeli-American relations and will isolate Israel as the ultimate anti-peace state. If this map is approved by the government, the Labor Party must immediately resign.
Labor 'rebel' MK Eitan Cabel sent a letter to the Labor ministerial meeting Thursday ahead of an internal vote on the plan, saying "[Defense Minister Ehud] Barak has lost touch with reality and he proves it time after time. Are you also like him?"
Barak and other Labor ministers are expected to endorse the decision.
Cabel also attacked the ministers for not responding to the PMO briefing already on Wednesday. Expressing frustration that they did not hurry to criticize the prioritization of settlers instead of residents of the periphery, Cabel asked, "Who exactly are you rescuing? employees of Tefron [a textile factory in danger of closing down]? the crashing economy? The city of Ashkelon that gets no benefits? Do the settlers really need this money when so much is needed in so many corners of the country?"
"Are you so strongly welded to your seats of power that your eyes have become blinded to the disgraces that you, also, are responsible for as ministers of this government?" Cabel wrote to the ministers.
The settlements are part of the larger map delineating the country's priority areas that takes in about 1.9 million people, or some 25 percent of the population, including some 40% of Israeli Arabs.
Prime Minister's Office Director-General Eyal Gabai stressed on Thursday that the message of the plan was one of joining the periphery to the center and giving Arab citizens equal rights, Israel Radio reported.
On Wednesday, Gabai had pointed out that the housing incentives would not be available to the settlements during the moratorium period.
The settlements on the map - including those in the Jordan Valley as well as Ariel, Nili, Betar Illit, Itamar and others - were selected because of security considerations. Many of the communities, but not all of them, are outside the large settlement blocs.
The criteria for determining which settlements were to get preferential treatment included the security situation in the area, economic strength, the quality of the municipal services, distance from the center of the country and the degree to which the communities absorbed new immigrants.
The primary significance of being designated a preferred area is that the various ministers will have the authority to direct additional funds there.
MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima), chairman of the State Control Committee, called on the prime minister to notify the committee on the exact criteria that were used to create the map.
"After getting all the answers from the prime minister, I intend to conduct a committee debate in order to establish whether the proper considerations went in to drawing the new priority areas map or whether there were other considerations," Hasson said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, according to a Peace Now report published Thursday, the socioeconomic status of those residing in settlements is higher than the national average. Peace Now concluded that in light of the statistics, there were no grounds for West Bank settlements to be included in the priority areas map.
The report stated that the unemployment rate in the settlements of Judea and Samaria stands at 6.5 percent, while the national unemployment rate is 7%. According to the statistics, the average income in Efrat - one of the settlements marked as a "priority area" - is NIS 7,790 per capita, NIS 3,000 higher than the average income in Ashdod.
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Jerusalem Post: "Peace Now: Gov't marked high-income settlements as 'priority areas'"
Dec. 10, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
The socioeconomic status of those residing in settlements is higher than the national average, according to a report published Thursday by grassroots organization Peace Now.
Peace Now concluded that in light of the statistics, there are no grounds for West Bank settlements to be included in the map delineating the country's "priority areas," marked for government incentives in education, housing, employment and more.
The report stated that the unemployment rate in the settlements of Judea and Samaria stands at 6.5 percent, while the national unemployment rate is 7%.
According to the statistics, the average income in Efrat - one of the settlements marked as a "priority area" - is NIS 7,790 per capita, NIS 3,000 higher than the average income in Ashdod.
http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181038143&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
12/13
Ma'ariv: "At Ashkelon's Expense"
by Yael Paz-Melamed -- 110 thousand people live in Ashkelon. Exactly the number of settlers whose favor the prime minister hopes to win. For time eternal the huge financial support granted to the settlers population, including the isolated settlements, came at the expense of cities and towns in the periphery. Tens of billions of shekels, which were invested over the years across Judea and Samaria in building multi-lane roads, settlements with few inhabitants, public facilities and so forth, were taken from the limited public coffers. When you give in one place, your always taking from some other place. Not always does the huge financial investment of Israel in its settlers stand in such stark comparison to what it gives to those who live within the Green Line.
This time the truth is crying out: cities such as Ashkelon and Ashdod will stop receiving support and assistance as cities of national priority; the settlement of Itamar, the wealthy settlement of Nokdim, and the even wealthier settlement of Karnei Shomron, will all be getting it on their expense.
It is enough to frighten Binyamin Netanyahu by sending hundreds of religious high school girls and a few more hundred of yeshiva boys from all across Judea and Samaria, in order to change the national priorities.
Bibi does not fear the residents of Ashkelon, and rightly so. They will continue to vote for him and the Likud, even if their houses are taken from them and given to the settlers. They are the Likud's captivate base, which was indeed once a party that represented the less wealthy sectors of society, and lifted the heads of those of eastern decent and provided them with a home and party to identify with.
All this has long since passed from the world; however residents of the periphery maintain their loyalty to the Likud. It is true that this loyalty has been somewhat undermined, and it is true that Netanyahu was brought to the ground due to the abandonment of the weak sectors of the population during his tenure as finance minister, but this was mostly a protest vote and not an fundamental change in voting behavior. Politically Netanyahu fears only the right wing. They are the ones that can set the land ablaze with their protests, remind him of his faulty promises, to put his rule in jeopardy. With the residents of Ashkelon he'll do all right. Fifteen year-old high school girls will not assemble in the squares and the streets over there. Neither will their parents. The rules of the game are known to both sides. The settlers know that another two or three years of demonstrations with 10,000 participants, which they will inflate in the media to 50,000, and Netanyahu will be forever in their pocket. They will continue to command government decisions, as they always have. Netanyahu knows that he is better off appeasing the settlers and not residents of the periphery, because they are in his pocket regardless. There is no need to make an effort for them. And residents of Ashkelon, for that matter, know that nothing they do will be of any avail anyway. They have lost to the settlements from the very beginning, despite everyone knowing that no city is more entitled than theirs to be of national priority.
Netanyahu's mistake is that he believes he is capable of halting the protests, some of which are violent, against him. He believes that if he distributes perks to the settlers, transforms them to towns of national priority, which is of no small cost, they will be placated and will immediately welcome the construction freeze orders handed to them by the inspectors. This idea is surely amusing to them. It amuses us all. They have always demanded everything. And they have always gotten it all. Why should they stop now?
According to the Peace Now report, all West Bank communities receiving national priority status are of high socio-economic status, unemployment figures are low and education is good, which is also due to money. All these parameters are contrary to those set by the High Court of Justice when it instructed that the national priority areas be redistributed. Thus the Prime Minister's Office cannot gloss over having restructured the plan in accordance to its orders. However the few voters of Labor ought to remember this moment, in which a government in which their party is a member, has removed Ashkelon, a peripheral city, from the nation's priorities and instead put in places like Nokdim, Itamar and Kiryat Arba.
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