The Prime Minister’s Office is holding up the transfer of NIS 2.5 billion (shekels; $645 million) to Arab communities in Israel because “the state has still not developed a mechanism to enforce planning and construction laws in these towns,” Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon told the Knesset yesterday, June 13. He was responding to a query addressed to him by Hadash MK Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List.

MK Ayman Odeh, third from left, with Arab mayors outside the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem (Photo: Al Ittihad)

Kahlon told the Knesset: “The Prime Minister’s Office is delaying it, that’s the truth. I assume that within a month the wait will end… There’s one problem: the cabinet has not finalized authorization of the transfer of the money because of the issue of enforcing planning and building laws. It doesn’t matter whether I like it or not; that’s the fact at the moment. Enforcement is not your problem, it’s the problem of the government that hasn’t created the mechanism.”

Last December 30, the cabinet unanimously approved a NIS 15 billion ($3.84 billion) five-year plan to fund the development of the infrastructure and services provided to the Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel; this in an effort to bring these up to par with the those funded for the Jewish population. Leader of the Joint List, MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), welcomed the authorization of the plan, but warned that there is still much that needs to be done for the Arab community in Israel. At the time, Odeh said: “The plan that was approved today is the result of a public campaign conducted over many years [and] is still far from complete. We need to follow up with implementation of the plan. Even though we have a long history of past disappointments, and harbor no illusions about the government’s discriminatory policies, we hope to see the program put fully into effect.”

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