According to a recent report released by the Adva Center, the majority of the settlements on the Occupied Palestinian Territories receive the largest amount of Israeli governmental subsidies for municipal budgets.

Occupation soldiers standing on the periphery of the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, which was partially built on land expropriated from the Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin (Photo: Activestills)

The report details the latest figures available on central government financing of local authorities and offers comparisons between four different types of localities: the “Forum of 15” – affluent local authorities, Jewish development towns, Arab localities, and Jewish settlements in the OPT. For the final type of locality, OPT settlements, the report also differentiates between Haredi (ultra-orthodox) settlements (Betar Illit, Modi’in Illit and Emanuel) and the rest of the settlements: national religious, secular and mixed Jewish populations.

According to Adva’s report, in 2017, the majority of the settlements (the non-Haredi ones) continued to lay out the largest amounts of money per capita: on the average, 8,548 shekels. These settlements also received the largest designated subsidies from the central government (mainly for education and social welfare), 3,623 shekels per capita; the largest balance grant, 1,071 shekels per capita; and the largest amount in other grants, 459 shekel per capita.

While there have been changes in government subsidies to local authorities over the past 20 years, during that period the largest amounts have been channeled to non-Haredi settlements in the OPT. “The size of the subsidies determines the quality of the services received by residents. The surplus financing of non-Haredi settlements reflects a clear government preference as well as the influence of a strong lobby in the legislature,” the report said.

The Adva Center is a leading Israeli progressive think-and-do tank that monitors social and economic developments. Adva’s studies of Israeli society present critical analyses of public policy in the areas of budgets, taxation and social services – education, health, housing, social security and welfare and transportation – including their implications for Israeli society as a whole and for each of its major social groups.

View the full report: https://adva.org/en/local-authorities-budgets-19972017/