Judea and Samaria councilors are convinced that the application of sovereignty - which in the meantime remains a paper plan - will be an important economic line for them. • New study: Mount Hebron: "Quality of life will improve"

• Barkan Industrial Zone

  Photo: 

  Joshua Joseph

"On television and on billboards, people and organizations are airing absurd numbers like NIS 52 billion, frightening the public that we will have to pay tens of billions of social security to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and provide them with a livelihood, but the truth is the opposite: Israel's economy will benefit from sovereignty."

Dr. Amatzia Samkai, a lecturer in economics at Bar-Ilan University, is convinced that applying sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and other territories in Judea and Samaria will boost business in these areas and, as a result, the Israeli economy in real estate, industry, infrastructure, welfare, education and tax revenues. 

Even before the Trump plan came into being, Samkai completed a comprehensive study entitled "The Economic Meanings of Applying Sovereignty in Area C." According to the study, the additional labor force of the population that will be added will increase the product by NIS 7.6 billion, and after deducting the costs and wages for the population, this is a surplus of close to NIS 3 billion per economy. The study took into account the most exaggerated negative assessment - that 150,000 Arabs live in Area C, and that the State of Israel will have to bear the burden of funding them. At the same time, this figure does not include revenues of tens of billions of additional shekels as a result of the main impact of sovereignty - the establishment of real estate and industrial projects thanks to the application of planning and construction laws on state and Israeli-owned land in these areas. 

Samkai is also not afraid of economic harm in the form of boycotts by foreign countries. "The intimidation of a boycott following sovereignty does not really make an impression," he explains. "The world is in no hurry to boycott Israel. There are about 200 Israeli companies that have developed projects against the Corona, and the world has penalized them. We saw that the UN published a 'blacklist' of products outside the Green Line, and it did not have much effect. On the contrary, perhaps this is what helped more than 100 million evangelists locate the products from Judea and Samaria and purchase them.

"Almost no areas for industry and trade are allocated"

The sovereignty plan may ensure that the settlers will no longer have to experience seven rounds of hell in front of the Civil Administration in order to open a balcony - but will only conduct themselves in front of the civilian authorities like the other citizens of Israel. David Elhayeni, chairman of the Jordan Valley Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, has sharply attacked the administration in the past over the construction issue. "This is a body that suffers from mental fixation and has lost its power," Elhayeni said in an interview with Mida about three years ago. . They force themselves on me just to justify their salaries. What is needed is to apply sovereignty to the Jordan Valley. " 

Elhayani is currently opposed to the Trump plan for fear of establishing a Palestinian state, but continues to adhere to his desire to apply sovereignty that may soon come true. According to MK and Maj. Gen. (Res.) Uzi Dayan (Likud), who has been promoting the idea of ​​applying sovereignty in the Jordan Valley for many years to secure Israel's eastern border, sovereignty will dramatically increase the number of Israelis living there - from about 8,000 today to 60,000. A jump of 650 percent. 

"Take the issue of tourism, for example," says Dayan. "750,000 people come to the baptismal site in Qasr al-Yahud. There is no one hotel to house them in. Does that seem normal to you? 750,000 tourists without a hotel? There is no hotel - restaurant, except for one place at the Baka junction. Last year I took 140 rabbis from all over the world to the Baka "There was nowhere to eat. We had to go to a yeshiva in Shadmot Mehola. How does that make sense?"

"The population is high level, but has no basic services"

How will sovereignty resolve the situation?

"Without sovereignty, there is no certainty, and as a result there is no investment. A wealthy businessman came to me some time ago who wanted to put $ 40 million on a project in the Jordan Valley but told me he was afraid he had no certainty what would happen tomorrow. Investment in any other part of Israel. "

And what about infrastructure?

"We are talking, for example, about the construction of the Golan-Baka-Arava railway line, a significant upgrade to Highway 90, the extension of Road 5 to the Baka and the development of industrial areas, which will suddenly be much simpler to establish - and that is just the tip of the fork. It will be a strategic, security and economic blessing." . 

Business balance instead of density

The expected jump in the number of residents of the Jordan Valley following the application of sovereignty is only a trailer for forecasts regarding the construction boom in other parts of Judea and Samaria. Israel Ganz, head of the Benjamin Council, which is considered the most populous in Israel with about 70,000 residents, tells Israel Today that "beyond the historical justice in applying sovereignty, it is a step that will be an economic lever that will have a positive effect on major cities and many sectors."

"Sovereignty will bring with it certainty and resilience that we will lie about the development of jobs and the real estate market. "The opening of construction reserves close to the residential concentrations within the Green Line will bring the Israeli economy to a better future with broader economic options than those that exist today."

David Elhayeni // Photo: Oren Ben Hakon

According to a study conducted by architect Uriel Rosenheim and presented in the Knesset in the past, the application of sovereignty will allow the establishment of two cities in Judea and Samaria east of Rosh HaAyin, ie in the heart of the country adjacent to demand areas. Rosenheim, who defined the Judea and Samaria area. He detailed in his study that out of 85,000 dunams of state land in Judea and Samaria, at least 30,000 are vacant and 60,000 housing units can be built - 5,000 a year. To illustrate, the scope of construction starts in the whole of Israel is about 50,000 a year - that is a significant addition Of about 10% of housing units in the center of the country, and as a result of this process, prices are also expected to fall in Gush Dan and Tel Aviv due to the balance of demand.

The economic aspect is integrated into this demographic, with the population growth rate in Judea and Samaria currently double that within the Green Line. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which unites the 36 developed countries in the world, by 2050 Israel is expected to become the most densely populated. For 700 people per square kilometer. The spread of the population to the east, in an area close to the country's economic nerve center, will help combat this density and more evenly divide Israel's industrial areas and business centers - most of which are densely populated in Greater Tel Aviv.

The issue of industrial areas in particular, and the collection of property taxes that are not residential at all, is particularly painful in Judea and Samaria - and stems directly from the non-application of sovereignty in these areas. This is property tax revenues from commercial real estate (offices, industry, shops, etc.), IDF bases , Power lines and communications and the like.

According to a recent study conducted by CPA Abigail Shkovetsky from the accounting department and the Variance School, the differences in business property tax revenues in localities within the Green Line compared to those outside it are particularly dramatic: for every shekel that enters the Judea and Samaria authorities, residents receive NIS 3.9. A gap of almost 300%. As a result, while the rate of revenue of the Judea and Samaria authorities in business property tax is only about 5% of the total revenue, among authorities in the rest of the country it is 18% - 3.6 times higher.

The result: a built-in deficit of almost half a billion shekels in Judea and Samaria authorities compared to similar authorities within the Green Line. 

Yochai Damari, head of the Mount Hebron Council, which has about 10,000 residents in 15 different localities, is convinced that applying sovereignty will ensure "distributive justice." For the residents of Judea and Samaria: "As head of the Judea and Samaria Council, I have almost no income from business property taxes - because there are no areas of employment, recreation and tourism. We still live here in the Oslo school, that these areas will be evacuated at some point, so it is not worth developing them. "

How is the lack of readiness manifested?

"Already at the planning stage, almost no areas are allocated for industry and commerce. The population is of a high standard, but it does not have malls, high-tech, medical centers and other basic services. Even there are hardly any gas stations, 15 in all of Judea and Samaria. So my residents have to go out to work or consume culture outside the council areas - where they will work closely. With the application of sovereignty, their quality of life will improve and I will also benefit from the income of commercial real estate - income that will eventually be invested back in the residents. "

The bureaucratic arbitrariness faced by Damari and other heads of authorities in Judea and Samaria could have given rise to a plagiarism lawsuit even on the part of the late Franz Kafka. “In regional councils within the Green Line roads are part of the council’s jurisdiction, so it can collect full property taxes on power lines and communications "But for me, and in Judea and Samaria in general, the roads are not included in the jurisdiction of the councils, because we are not sovereign in them, so I do not get anything. 

Uzi Dayan // Photo: Yehuda Peretz

"The Interior Ministry told me, 'You are in Judea and Samaria and money does not move from Israel to Judea and Samaria.' That leaves me as a very weak authority compared to other very strong councils. If there is sovereignty - the matter is resolved immediately and I would accept like everyone else." 

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Mount Hebron Council is indeed discriminated against compared to neighboring regional councils bordering its territory - Dead Sea Tamar, Bnei Shimon and Yoav: while the average income from business property taxes in Mount Hebron is only NIS 351 per resident - in Yoav and Bnei Shimon the numbers range from 2,700 To NIS 2,900 per resident, and in Tamar it is an astronomical figure of NIS 80,328 per resident - almost 230 times more than in neighboring Mount Hebron.

Overall, the income from business property taxes in all the regional councils in Judea and Samaria amounts to NIS 409 per resident - compared to NIS 1,896 in councils within the Green Line - more than 4.5 times. Compared to the northern Hebron Mountains, Tel Aviv, by the way, has an income of almost NIS 5,000 per resident.

Let us earn for ourselves

Damari testifies that even collaborative initiatives that are acceptable to all parties are thwarted for reasons that purport to be legal, let alone political. "We wanted on Mount Hebron to connect with localities close to us, such as Yeruham and Dimona, for joint projects that make our lives easier and cheaper for all of us, on issues of garbage removal, the environment and the like," he says. "There was mutual agreement between us and them, at the level that decisions were made on the issue in the plenum of the councils and municipalities, but then the Interior Ministry spokesman (Adv. Yehuda Zimrat) came out and issued a circular telling me that I could not join because I was in Judea and Samaria. What are you going through? Can't a person come here to dump garbage? "

What about the many IDF bases spread out in your council area?

"The IDF is sovereign in the area, so it decides that it does not pay me property taxes. "Surrounded by bases. This is how it is when you are the ruler. It will of course change if sovereignty is applied and we become like all the cities and regional councils in Israel."

The reality you are describing is in stark contrast to the articles that are published every morning about the permit funding that the settlements receive.

"This is a trending illusion. In reality, the Judea and Samaria authorities are poorer because they suffer from a built - in disadvantage in the distribution of income, and in the current model I cannot exist without special grants. Once I can not collect property taxes from businesses that do not, can not generate revenue from power lines and bases, can not develop infrastructure because there are no improvement levies - I can not enjoy economic resources that will be invested back in my residents.

"Instead of enjoying self-income and opening myself up, I should ask for money from the state. It also produces antagonism against us because the media describes us as robbers, and the money does not really meet our needs either. Double loss."

So why is the Yesha Council of which you are a member opposed to the Trump plan that includes applying sovereignty?

"I am in favor of applying sovereignty but against agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state and freezing construction in enclaves as opposed to permitting Arab construction. People do not understand how critical this is: already now the Palestinians are using the 'wall and tower' method and trying to establish facts on the ground and establish a de facto state. 

"Although the state is acting helplessly in thwarting the phenomenon, at least it is clear to everyone that what they are doing is forbidden. Once the Palestinians receive Israeli permission to build and there is no Israeli construction - we will wake up to a balance of power that will put us in a losing position. ".

The plan states that you can remain under Palestinian sovereignty or find an "other" solution.

"Well, then the meaning is one: evacuation, even if not by force, because the Treasury will not invest a penny in the area and the banks will not grant mortgage loans. We will just wither until we are forced to leave. The prime minister said changes to the map could be made in our favor, and the Americans approved. "Then I will welcome the Trump plan. Otherwise, as hard as it is to say, it is better to continue with the current situation."