Doc's Talk: About those millions of shekels directed to the settlements

Thursday, August 18, 2011

About those millions of shekels directed to the settlements

anneinpt
Settlement caravans

Not-million-shekel caravans in Shomron yishuv

There is a constant refrain amongst certain sectors of Israeli society, echoed in the international media, NGOs and the like, that successive Israel governments filter off millions (even billions) of shekels to the “illegal”* settlements, to the detriment of regular “legal”* Israeli citizens in “Israel proper”. One of the commenters on my post about the social protests in Israel has used this argument too. Therefore I am happy to be able to enlighten you with the real numbers behind this apparent budgetary generosity on the part of the Israeli government.Via the Muqata we read a letter from Emily Amrousi, a “settler”* living in the “settlement”* of Talmon.

Before I go any further, a word about the asterisks marking the words in quote marks. I don’t regard settlements as anything other than Israeli towns situated in Judea and Samaria; settlers are no more than Israelis living in these towns, and the legality of the settlements has been pretty well decided. At the most, their status is “disputed”, certainly not illegal.

Emily’s letter is translated from the Hebrew original here. Because it is a translation, I will quote from the Muqata’s post but I will correct the English grammar and syntax:

The whole truth about “money for settlements” and where did they hide the money for my settlement?

The Budget is skewed because of the settlements. Known. The Israeli government spends billions on the territories. Known. In general, it is known that settlers have more fun.

Every time the suggestion arises to “turn off the faucet to the settlers,” my soul collapses and my settler eyebrows rise: Where is that money?

I’m holding the monthly bill for the community where I live. Every month I pay 2500 shekel to rent a cardboard-lined and tin-roofed trailer. I repeat: 2500 shekels. To finance municipal services I pay the same property tax rate prevailing in Israel, per meter. For me that comes to 3048 shekels a year – for a caravan (trailer). Including, incidentally, one of the highest sewerage fee rates, something not paid in many areas. And then there are special taxes, collected only from settlers: local community tax – 250 shekels a month; security tax – 160 shekels a month.

I would be happy to stop with these details, but when every ignoramus talks about “money to the settlers”, this requires closer scrutiny.

To finance the building of the synagogue, we pay 150 shekels a month (payment obligatory, beyond any private contributions to the synagogue). For all communal events we pay full price. Rates for day care centres, afternoon child care centres and kindergartens are fixed by the Ministry of Labour and Industry, and are identical to what is paid by parents in the rest of the country. Private child-care services are more expensive, because of a lack of competition. To support the weak members of the community and to prevent them becoming a burden on the welfare authorities, we have special obligatory charity funds , and other mutual aid societies (“gamachim”). Even our needy are not dependent upon the state.

For many years already there have been no tax breaks for those who live in Judea and Samaria. For over a decade there has been no budget allocated for development and infrastructure for settlements. And the myth of the soldiers guarding our gates? Irrelevant for years: We pay a security company and do or own reserve duty at night (1 night of the month, a full day once every three months).

Building lots are developed by contractors, and priced accordingly. There are no housing grants, no location loans. Nothing. A month ago my settlement offered a plot for construction at 450 thousand shekels. Contractor-built homes with 4 rooms (3 bedrooms) are sold for nearly one million shekels. And I have still not said a word about the huge sums that the settler has to pay for fuel. If you could tell me where the money is hiding, I’d love to know.

Peace Now “found and discovered two billion shekels from the state budget allocated to the settlers’ villas”. Very quickly these two billion fabrications became the complete truth: Israel is pouring its budget into the pockets of the delusional cult of hilltop grabbers! A closer examination reveals their creativity in creating this forgery, and how they arrived at such a nice round sum.

Well, to start with the state spent NIS 800 million on the Security Wall and seam line – the Left’s idea mind you, intended to protect the centre of the country (including those settlers remaining on the inside of the fence). An additional NIS 240 million was allocated for coordination activities in the territories. Do you know what that is? It’s a budget for assistance to the Palestinians. 240 million shekels went to finance the Disengagement plan [from Gaza -Ed.]. Indeed, that’s something that the settlers wanted very much and enjoyed.

NIS 100 million was invested in the Old City of Jerusalem. NIS 255 million went to upgrading the road to the Dead Sea – improving transport to the hotels. If pools of mud and tourists in bikinis are settlers – I had better update some of my friends.

NIS 172 million went for the Housing Ministry tenders in Maale Adumim and Har Homa – beyond the fact that this is Jerusalem and not isolated settlements, I would remind you that tenders are “a returning expense” – money that comes back: At the time of marketing the money comes back with profit to the state

Let’s continue. NIS 180 million to connect the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the entrance to the city – no bearded settlers were observed in the region. 10 million shekels for the bulletproofing of buses – you got me there, this is in fact is blatant discrimination and a perk for the settlers.

And finally: 11 million shekels compensation for losses following boycotts of exporters. Ahem. Maybe Peace Now would like to explain how come there is a boycott of Israeli exporters in the world.

Read it again, no transfers of money to the settlers, no illegal funding.

The real amounts that are invested in Judea and Samaria are designed to provide for the minimal necessities of life. They are no different from State investment in any other region in the country, and are less than investment in national priority areas and development towns. The middle class of the settlements is the same worn-down sector that bears the burden of taxes and military service, and runs the same Sisyphean rat race to get an apartment. 40 thousand settlers live in caravans – a housing shortage associated with the cost of living no less than it is related to the settlement-building freeze. We accept the obligations with love. Our civil rights should be equal to all other Israelis, no less.

One of these rights, I hope is that we shouldn’t be slandered with lies.

Emily Amrosi
Talmon

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk