'Investigate transfer of funds to settlements'
Herzog and Cabel urge investigation of 'blatant and systemic budget discrimination' against residents of southern and northern communities as opposed to Israelis living in settlements.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) and MK Eitan Cabel appealed to the State Comptroller Yosef Shapira and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein over the weekend, seeking an investigation into the discrepancy between the amount of funds transferred to settlements and to southern and northern communities, following an article on the topic that was published by Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday.
On Friday, journalist Nahum Barnea revealed the sum of money channeled through the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, as opposed to sums it invests in the peripheral communities in the north and south of Israel. The publication is based on a study by the Molad research institute.
According to the study, NIS 150 million out of the 200 million transferred to local authorities and communities are transferred to settlements in the West Bank. For example, a resident of Har Hebron receives NIS 1,418 a year from the Settlement Division, while a resident of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council receives only NIS 12.
A resident of Eshkol Regional Council receives NIS 130 a year, compared to NIS 585 that a resident of the Shomron Regional Council receives. The small settlement of Eli receives NIS 10 million alone – NIS one million more than the sums received by all the communities of the Golan Regional Council put together.
"The data in the study reveal a disturbing situation of a blatant and systemic budget discrimination against communities in the north and south of the country, as opposed to communities located beyond the Green Line," Herzog and Cabel wrote in their appeal.
"We want to speak out on behalf of the residents of Israel's periphery, residents of the north and south," Herzog and Cabel stated, adding that "an act of underhanded opportunism is happening behind their backs, that prevents them from receiving funds to which they are lawfully entitled in order to develop their communities, the infrastructure in their area, draw new residents and improve the quality of their lives."
"We want to speak out for them against the blatant and shameless unfairness of the Settlement Division's dividing of resources," they wrote.
Herzog and Cabel say that the case at hand is a form of "cynical discrimination used against the southern and northern communities as opposed to the settlements."
They further stated that the "discrimination between the residents created an unbearable situation of different classes, in which one group of residents is worth more than others. We call for a comprehensive examination of the Settlement Division's conduct that was revealed in the study."
