Israel Okays New Funds For Settlements

Israel Okays New Funds For Settlements
December 14, 2009 - 11:24

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Defying the international community on the illegal settlements in the West Bank, the Israeli government voted millions of dollars Sunday, December 13, to Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. "With this, we want to send a message (to the settlers) that we understand their difficulties and want to support them," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told public radio. The government of hawkish premier Benjamin Netanyahu voted to pump 2 billion shekels (about $530 million) to Jewish settlements designated as "national priority zones". The credits will benefit 110,000 settlers and can be used for vocational training programs and other educational or cultural activities. "This map is intended to close rifts and this time, also to bring in our security concerns,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We will determine the future of settlements only within the framework of a permanent agreement [with Palestinians]." The government also decided to create a commission that will decide within 30 days on whether to include other communities. The new funds are seen as a gesture to Jewish settlers furious over a government decision for a 10-month moratorium on settlement expansions. "It is a step in the right direction, but the route remains long," said Yishai Hollender, a spokesman for the main settler organisation, Yesha. There are more than 164 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, eating up more than 40 percent of the occupied territory. The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal. Outrage But the plan sparked outrage for giving greater influence to right-wing Jewish settlers, reported Haaretz. “I don't think that we need to award them a prize in the form of including them in the national priority map," Labor Party leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. He said the funds gave some settlers “greater proportional representation than their numbers". "There are some small settlements who consistently constitute a source of extremists activity," he said, citing the weekend vandalism of a mosque in the West Bank village of Yassouf. Extremist settlers burst into the mosque and burned prayer carpets and copies of the Noble Qur’an. The settlers also scrawled graffiti in Hebrew calling the attack "the price tag," a similar slogan left by settlers after other acts of vandalism. The left-wing Meretz party also submitted a motion of no-confidence over the funding plan for the settlements. The European Union on Friday expressed concerns about the Israeli plan. "If I understand it rightly, it is a rather serious step," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said. "If that is the decision that will be taken by the Israeli government, we will most certainly express our views on it."