The Knesset's Finance Committee approved funds amounting to NIS 11 million ($2.76 million) for various Israeli operations in the West Bank. In a Monday budget meeting held shortly after the vote on the new economic measures, the committee approved NIS 8.3 million ($2 million) for settlement relocations in the West Bank, out of which NIS 2.7 million ($680,000) were appropriated for "settlement infrastructure."
The question of the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria has been the Israeli discourse theme for decades, and recently raised. Again and again claims regarding the economic costs of settlement in Yesha are media highlighted by its opponents .In our view, settlement in Eretz Israel seen only through economic eyes places 120 years of Zionism in a ridiculous light. It was not "economically correct" to establish the State of Israel or the settlements in the Negev and the Galilee. Furthermore, examination of these claims reveals facts that are not just demagogic, but simply unfounded. There really is no special investment. In the last decade the State of Israel does not invest in Judea and Samaria excessive investments relative to other parts of the country and unfortunately there is a decline in investments in state infrastructure projects and residential communities in Judea and Samaria.
According to data published in Calcalist [a daily business paper] on 30/07/2012, by 2009 government budgets for Judea fell by more than 50% despite the rapid growth of population in Yesha which stands at 5% per year (more than 2-fold average increase in the State of Israel). Most of the increase is in our young - young couples and children, so every year a growing number of kids that come up gardens and grades. This requires the state to expand educational and welfare institutions according to criteria used by each state. Despite this many classrooms in Yesha are still in temporary buildings and mobile caravans. A large part (sometimes over 50%) of the budget is passed to authorities in Judea and Samaria for education in general to be used for transportation in bulletproof vehicles. The State requires the authorities to use these shuttles for students following the Oslo Agreement and in light of terrorism exacerbated since 2000. We should have those funds?
...Is evacuation of the settlements the move that would save the Israeli economy? Planned cost of the evacuation of Gush Katif was about $ 6 billion, but so far the disengagement budget stands at over 13 billion NIS from the state. Calculating these relative costs for removal of "only" 150,000 residents who are not residents of the blocs in Yesha, will reach the minimum expenditure amount of $ 250 billion - an amount identical to the state budget (security, health, education, economics and more) for a year. Expulsion from their homes is the very opposite moral and just course, but also economic terms such a move would bring enormous national expenditure, and consequently weaken the density and pressure on the cities in the country's center [Gedera-Hadera] together with a sharp rise in house prices. This is certainly not right and not social. How did we come to the Left's moves?...
...Even the leftist policies in recent decades was not cheap at all. Some were failed attempts for peace. How much did the Oslo Accords cost us and the subsequent terrorism? What about the costs of Operations Defensive Shield and Operation Cast Lead? What about defense budgets and protection from Beersheba in the south to Ashdod and Gedera? Some budget was invested in purchasing weapons, injured persons' compensation for the loss of work days and damaged industries? Calculating the economic significance of these errors is almost an impossible task. Settlement in Judea and Samaria is a fact and the residents there are full partners in the burden of life in Israel and therefore entitled to full rights as for all citizens in education, medicine, culture and more. A healthy political culture can sustain sharp dialogue but at the same time, superficial and cynical use of economic data in order to attack the Jewish communities across the Green Line is misleading the public and damaging public discourse.
A shortfall in donor aid, tough Israeli trade restrictions and diplomatic paralysis are jeopardizing Palestinian efforts to build a viable economy and strong institutions, the IMF and United Nations said in separate reports...
...if donor countries continued to withhold promised aid, and if last year’s budget deficit of $1.1 billion were to recur this year, the PA would find itself with a budget shortfall of $500 million...[and] Palestinian officials foresee a $950 million total deficit and $330 million financial gap, still a vast sum which is generating deep concern.
The report says Palestinian “financial stability is now challenged.” It cited a shortfall of foreign aid and lack of development in the private sector.
Based on the track record of reforms and institution-building in the public finance and financial areas IMF staff considers that the PA is now able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state.
The Palestinian economy, however, is facing increased risks, and growth in the West Bank has slowed down. This slowdown is due to continued fiscal retrenchment, declining aid, a consequent liquidity crisis, as well as slower easing of Israeli restrictions since mid-2010. Concerted actions by the PA, the Government of Israel, and donors are essential to stem the risks. The PA should maintain its solid record of accomplishment by accelerating key structural reforms. These reforms include implementing civil service reform, restoring the viability of the public pension system, continued improvement of the social safety net, full phasing out of electricity subsidies, and improving the legal and regulatory framework for businesses.
What about the sectoral flow of funds to the settlements?
"There was heavy investment in the territories when they built the infrastructure. There is no longer any building new infrastructure, so there are no large sums."
1. A law that limits how hot it can get in Israel in August.
2. In order to make productive use of solar energy Israel needs to destroy all settlements in the West Bank at once and replace them with large solar panels.
3. Israel will officially cut July and August down to 15 days each and insert a new month in between them – the month of chill and solidarity.
4. All factories in the Israeli periphery that emit pollution will be converted into igloo manufacturers.
5. Tens of thousands of igloos will be distributed for free to Israelis living in hardship, especially to Negev Bedouin squatters living illegally on lands that do not belong to them.
6. Since greenhouse gases are causing global warming, all Israeli power plants will be shut down in August, making it a cooler month.
7. Being realists, the protesters understand that Israel would still need a source of power and so they are proposing that it be generated by conscripting tens of thousands of unemployed Israelis and assigning
them to peddling stationary bike exercise machines attached to a generator to generate electricity, while earning high wages.
8. Every Israeli citizen will receive an organic air conditioner unit that generates its own energy with compost and love.
9. The government will be asked to provide subsidized air tickets for young Israelis wishing to go to cooler countries in August.
10. And the most important way to make August cooler is to get rid of Bibi and his government.
new protest movement complaining about high housing prices that is sweeping Israel
What is the cause and meaning of this movement?
The protests’ key organizers have clearly political motives...the individuals and organizations animating this protest are committed to a left-wing political agenda intended to weaken, embarrass, and, if possible, topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Many have clear affiliations indicating their hostility both to the current government and to mainstream Israeli positions. Funding is coming from the New Israel Fund and its operational group, Shatil. Yehudit Ilani, for example, a leader of the protests in Jaffa, is an Israeli-Jewish member of the hardline, Arab nationalist party Balad, which openly supports dismantling Jewish statehood and the ‘”right of return” of Palestinian refugees, that is, Israel’s destruction...
Dafni Leef, another protest leader, is an employee of the New Israel Fund. Alon Lee Green, another of the most prominent organizers, is a member of Hadash, the Israeli Communist Party...
Report presented to socio-economic cabinet says Jewish state suffers from social inequalities, will be 'most poor' member of organization. Findings indicate biggest social gap in haredi, non-Jewish sectors on January 19, 2010,
OECD report finds Israel as top country for venture capital investment
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report on entrepreneurship finds that while Israel ranks poorly in terms of bureaucratic obstacles, venture capital is relatively easy to obtain there.
The inclusion of east Jerusalem, West Bank settlements and the Golan Heights in Israel's statistic figures reduces the per capita income and increases inequality, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Israel's population within the Green Line included 6.7 million residents in 2009. An additional 440,000 residents lived in east Jerusalem, 290,000 in West Bank settlements, and 41,000 in the Golan Heights. From 1997 to 2009, the east Jerusalem population grew by 40% and the settlement population rose by almost 100% - at a pace of 8% a year. The Israeli population within the Green Line grew at a pace of only 2.2% a year during that period.
is 10% higher compared to the inequality in income within the Green Line – and in both cases it is one of the highest among OECD members.
The poverty rate in Israel, both within the Green Line and in the territories, is the second highest among developed countries – after Mexico.
The inclusion of the settlements and east Jerusalem adds about 4% to Israel's gross domestic product, but reduces the GDP per capita by a significant rate of 6.5% a year. "Without east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the settlement, the GDP per capita within the Green Line would have been 6.5% higher. The post-1967 territories pushed Israel's GDP per capita down," the OECD rules
In the budget year of 2007, the Israeli government spent some NIS 12.5 billion (NIS 14.5 billion in 2011 prices) on the West Bank settlements, Golan Heights and the annexed part of east Jerusalem – a 10% addition to the State Budget. In addition, NIS 5.5 billion were invested that year in the settlements and east Jerusalem, NIS 2.4 billion of them on housing construction.
...Palestinians, mired in a financial crisis that forced an emergency 50 percent cut in public salaries, may find that pursuing statehood at the United Nations next month puts them in worse condition.
Israel, which opposes the UN bid without a return first to peace talks, collects about $1.2 billion in fees each year for the Palestinian Authority. It has withheld the money in the past during disputes and to pressure the Palestinians. Both the U.S. House and Senate have called on President Barack Obama to reduce the Palestinians’ annual $500 million in foreign aid if they proceed at the UN’s September meeting.
“Even if statehood is declared and receives broad acceptance at the UN, it’s not clear that it can be implemented over the objections of Israel and the U.S.,” said Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House research institute in London. “There could be a real problem if people have high expectations” of what the UN effort will achieve.
...Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz delayed transfer of the custom fees in May -- almost $100 million for the month -- until Palestinian officials offered proof the money wouldn’t go to the Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union.
Two months later, Fayyad announced that the authority was in a financial crisis and he would have to slash June paychecks by 50 percent for 151,000 civil-service employees. In a July 3 news conference at his office in Ramallah, Fayyad singled out Arab donors as the key missing link, saying only Oman, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates had fulfilled foreign-aid commitments.
Since then, Saudi Arabia sent $30.8 million to help bridge the gap, representing two months of its total annual pledge. That enabled the authority to pay full salaries for July so that families wouldn’t have to reduce their holiday spending during the holy month of Ramadan, according to Fayyad, who said budget cuts would have to be found elsewhere. The Saudi contribution leaves about $228 million from Arab sources still uncollected and the rest of the June salaries still unpaid, according to the prime minister’s figures.
The economic problems “are so deep and rooted that it will be very difficult to overcome them in the near future,” said Nasser Abdel Kareem, an economist at Birzeit University in the West Bank. “Government spending is the core of the Palestinian economy. Without it, the economy is close to collapse.”
Roughly a quarter of the authority’s $3.7 billion annual budget comes from the U.S., Arab and other foreign aid, according to Accountant-General Yousef Zummor. About 44 percent of revenue that makes up the rest of the budget comes from the fees the authority needs Israel’s cooperation to receive.
Worthless politicized crapola.The fact that they are obsessing about "gini coefficients" shows they do not know what they are talking about.
if the anti-Zionist left would get their way and a half million Jews were ethnically cleansed from their homes, it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars - money that every Israeli taxpayer would have to pay! [America, too, actually mostly] It cost about $2 billion to remove a few thousand Jews from Gaza...the cost of..."social justice" would be a huge burden on the Israeli economy, making the chances of affordable housing in Israel much more remote...
"Slashing funding today for the settlements won’t help achieve the “social justice” goals.
That’s because the operative questions is not if Israel spent a bazillion dollars on the settlements in the past but how a change in funding today would impact the situation in Israel. The first and foremost “social justice” problem is affordable housing. And it is going to take several years – in the most optimistic scenarios – for housing construction within the Green Line to close the supply gap that has pushed prices up beyond the reach of many families.
Any policy decision that encourages families to move from the settlements to communities within the Green Line would only exacerbate the existing shortages – making it take that much longer for supply to catch up with demand."
Why don't you go live in Lod, where housing is cheap, available, and not far from Tel Aviv, asked reporter Erel Segal in an interview with protesters on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. "Why don't you," was the contemptuous answer. His question, which expresses a social and ethical outlook, is put into practice by young individuals and families (numbering in the thousands ) who, instead of pitching protest tents and demanding their "rights," have settled in Lod, Ramle, Netivot, Ofakim, Sderot, Kiryat Shmona, Yeruham, Dimona and other developing towns. Many of them, like some of the Rothschild protesters, are the sons and daughters of middle-class families from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Efrat and Ofra. This is the main reason why skull caps and long skirts can hardly be seen in the protest tents put up in the main cities.
If Netanyahu had the vision, determination, and nerves of a statesman, he would declare: The government is committed to lowering housing prices in the center and in the periphery equally. But the price reduction will be relative to the government's strategic, social and national priorities. The price of land in the Galilee and the Negev will be lowest (though also according to a regional ordering ); those residing and studying there will also receive additional benefits. Towns in the center of the country, such as Lod and Ramle, are also a national priority. The government will triple its investments in infrastructure, and in the near future residents of the periphery will be able to reach hubs of employment and leisure in the center of the country on fast trains that do not constantly break down and on multilane highways.
Israel is a tiny country, and those wishing to live in Tel Aviv - though a price reform will be implemented there as well - should adapt to market prices...What is more social and Zionist - if those are the true objectives - than strengthening the periphery? Even the protesters on Rothschild Boulevard are not against others living in the periphery.
...As opposed to all the social-demagogue chatter we are hearing, this was not a waste of money. After all, the 330,000 settlers have to live somewhere - If not in Beit El then in Carmiel. Moreover, the settlement enterprise constitutes a peripheral area to a no lesser extent than the Galilee and Negev regions. Instead of crowding somewhere in downtown Tel Aviv, we built in Judea and Samaria, thereby killing two birds with one stone: It was both cheaper and more pioneering.
America's enemies in the Middle East well understand that no American military goals or resources in the Middle East are as remotely as important to the region as is Israel, with its ever-growing panoply of technical, economic, moral, and military assets...contrary to all the floods of mendacious propaganda purveyed by an ever-gullible mainstream media, Netanyahu's bold economic and humanitarian policies in the West Bank and Gaza have succeeded in fostering a brisk economic revival in the territories, with a recovery rate of near 10 percent in Gaza alone. As George Will acerbically noted in a particularly brilliant column, "Turkey was claiming to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, a land with higher incomes and longevity than Turkey itself."
Israel's unparalleled achievements in industry and intellect have fanned the familiar anti-Semitic frenzies...They all imagine that by delegitimizing, demoralizing, defeating, and, ultimately, destroying Israel, they will take an enormous step toward bringing down the entire capitalist West.
...U.S. strategy has slid into total incoherence, drifting from a futile and deadly funambulism (*) among the tribes of Afghanistan to propping up the Lebanese Army (i.e., Hezbollah) with sophisticated night-fighting gear to be used against no other target than Israel, and enhancing the Palestinian police forces with $100 million in new equipment and training assistance, all the while pretending to the overwhelmingly pro-Israel American electorate that it is, in fact, guaranteeing the military superiority of Israel. This feckless and reckless attempt at a "fairness doctrine" balancing act places the United States and the entire Middle East on a path that can only lead to a new war that such a Janus-faced policy, in which America arms both sides, will make at once more likely and more lethal.
Acting on the facts of life and history would make peace a far more likely prospect than does the Obama administration's return to a "Peace Process" that chiefly focuses on uprooting Israeli settlers
PA lightens ban on working insettlementsJewish communities to ease Palestinian unemployment
Figures show number of Palestinians employed insettlementsJewish communities has increased to nearly 35,000; PA legislation barring employment there would be an economic blow to Palestinian population...
...ThesettlementsJewish communities and laborers who work in them have a mutually beneficial relationship, andsettlementJewish community construction relies on Palestinian labor. Many Palestinian workers who do not have permission to work in Israel proper find employment in thesettlementsJewish communities.
According to Israeli figures from September 2009 that were provided to the PA's donor countries, 22,000 Palestinians were working with Israeli permission in thesettlementsJewish communities, including thesettlements'Jewish communities' industrial zones. Non-governmental organizations have said, however, that about 10,000 other Palestinians are working in thesettlementsJewish communities without formal permission, mainly in seasonal agricultural work.
Now, our final ACE Award winner has a vision of corporate responsibility that shows how business can address our most difficult challenges. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Consulate in Jerusalem have jointly nominated Cisco Systems. At a time when many companies colored the West Bank red on their maps as an economic no-go zone, Cisco saw an opportunity.
It invested $10 million in Palestinian programmers, and by including both Palestinians and Israelis on the same programming teams, Cisco has taken people and economies that are too often kept apart and reconnected them in person and in cyberspace. Today, Cisco’s leadership has inspired other American and Israeli high tech companies to recognize that the West Bank is open for business, and its youth programs teach Palestinian children English and computer skills. We are very committed in the United States Government to the economic development of the Palestinian people, so it is my particular privilege to ask Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers to accept this ACE Award for your efforts to create jobs, improve lives, and lay the groundwork for lasting peace.
...I want to thank especially my team, Tae Yoo, Georgia Keekee – Zeka, I know you’re there with the entire team in Israel – for the courage that you’ve had to really bring it together...About three years ago, I got a phone call from somebody very close to the State Department. They said, “John, you need to come to Palestine.” I said, “Do you understand there’s a lot of conflict going on there?” And she said, “This is the right move for you to make.” So I went in, over the objections of a lot of colleagues, over hesitation, met with President Abbas, and he outlined a dream for what he would like to see occur. President Peres in Israel outlined the same dream...we made a commitment of $10 million when it was a red zone, where most people would have said that’s the last thing you want to do...We brought together communities that brought together the Jewish world, the Arab world, the Christian world and Nazareth – Illit Nazareth – in an open environment to be able to bring services to the population. We took our network academies to train young people to get jobs in the future, took it throughout Palestine, throughout Israel, 60,000 students now in the Middle East on these network academy programs. Together, we can change the world. USAID has been a great partner throughout. And so when you have these aspirations and dreams, it’s not just the right thing to do, as my peers said earlier; it is good for business.
Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu told the closing plenary of the United Jewish Communities General Assembly Wednesday that the peace process needs to focus on economic issues and not political disagreements.
Instead of talking about contentious issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the first step to a lasting peace needs to be the fostering of the Palestinians' economic situation, he said.
...An estimated 22,000 Palestinians currently work in the settlements, of whom 11,000 are in construction, 8,000 in industry, and about 3,000 in agriculture.
...[there is] Palestinian legislation, a continuation of the decision to boycott products from the settlements. Likewise, the proposal aspires to disengage the economy of Palestine from that of the settlements...
Israeli industrialists and contractors were predictably quick to cry foul. How is it possible to maintain the settlements without cheap labor? If Israel wants to stick with its settlement policy, it must tell the public to pay up. The bill is already on the table. In exchange for every Palestinian worker who will leave, the settlers are asking for NIS 2,000 in compensation to make up the wage difference between an Israeli and a Palestinian worker. That adds up to NIS 44 million for industry alone, with farmers and building contractors waiting in line. This sum covers more than the social benefits paid to Israeli employees and not to Palestinians; some of it is meant to serve as a "bonus" to lure Israeli workers.
But beyond exposing the wage gap between Israeli and Palestinian workers, and the new tax Israelis will be asked to pay the industrialists and contractors in the territories (who had it easy )...
The departure of the Palestinians from the settlements and the entry of Israelis in their place means a rise of about 20,000 settlers. If this includes their families, the number of Israeli labor migrants to the West Bank will reach 60,000 to 80,000 persons, increasing the number of settlers living in the territories by 20 to 25 percent.
Greece's debt crisis is of its own making, the result of corruption and tax avoidance and that seductive Mediterranean coupling of high living and low productivity. Greece now finds itself in a trap where the only way it can refinance its crushing debt load is to drastically cut spending and raise taxes, but doing so will almost certainly plunge the economy into such a deep recession that incomes and tax revenues will fall and the government will be unable to meet its debt service requirements. So deep is this trap that numerous experts in international finance, including Barry Eichengreen of the University of California at Berkeley, now predict that Greece will eventually default on its debt and force creditors to accept less than they are owed.
Israel’s technological success is the fruition of the Zionist dream. The country was not founded so stray settlers could sit among thousands of angry Palestinians in Hebron. It was founded so Jews would have a safe place to come together and create things for the world.
A community of at least 800,000 people - out of 5.4 million Jews living in Israel, a country of 7.1 million - the ultra-Orthodox, though comparatively poor, form a distinct, growing and important market, and Israeli companies are paying attention. While there are rabbinical strictures against watching television, using computers for leisure, immodest attire and unsupervised mixing of men and women, the Israeli market economy has adjusted in creative and surprising ways.
Some 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox men do not work regular jobs, preferring religious study. More than 50 percent live below the poverty line and get state allowances, compared with 15 percent of the rest of the population, and most families have six to seven children, said Momi Dahan, an economist at the School of Public Policy at Hebrew University.
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