Some 28 per cent of housing units that receive government funding from the building department in rural areas over the past four years were built in settlements established in the West Bank, a report revealed.
The data, which was obtained from the Ministry of Construction and Housing, also suggested that since Uri Ariel was appointed housing minister two years ago, there has been an increase in settlement construction, as the percentage of funded settlement units reached 32 per cent.
An investigation carried out by Haaretz pointed out that the Ministry of Construction and Housing funds infrastructure development operations for the construction of new housing units in “national preference” zones with hundreds of millions of shekels. These zones are outlined in a map approved by the Israeli government in January 2012 during Benjamin Netanyahu’s second term. The map includes 650 towns ruled by the construction department in rural areas, including 67 settlements. These areas are chosen based on a number of criteria, including the security and economic situations and the percentage of migration to and from the area, etc.
The report suggests that 28 per cent of the housing units were constructed in settlements over the past four years, even though these settlements only make up 10 per cent of the “national preference” zones’ map.
Consequently, the ministry funded the construction of 8,000 housing units, 2,400 of which were in settlements. The cost of this reached 184 million shekels ($46.8 million), 35 per cent of the development budget.
Since Uri Ariel became minister of housing in March 2013, larger budgets were allocated for settlements. According to the report, in 2011, there was a different “national preference” map in which no government funding was given to construction in settlements, while 617 housing units were funded inside the Green Line. In 2012, budgets were allocated for funding the construction of 353 housing units in the West Bank and 1,233 units inside the Green Line.
In 2013, budgets were allocated to fund the construction of 1,604 housing units in the West Bank and 2,462 units inside the Green Line, while in 2014 the budget funded the construction of 513 units in the West Bank and 1,916 units within the Green Line. Therefore, during Uri Arial’s term, 32 per cent of the housing budget was allocated to settlements.
It has also be revealed that 44 out of 67 settlements included on the “national preference” map received government funding for the construction of housing units in them, while only 119 towns out of 580 within the Green Line received similar funding.