The struggle for settlement in the Galilee: Housing Minister Yitzhak Godelenoff canceled a meeting planned for him with the heads of the settlement in the Galilee and is expected to make a decisive decision on the future of settlement in the region without talking to them. The cancellation of the meeting is another step by Goldkanoff to unilaterally determine settlement policy in the north, regardless of the positions of the government and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The meeting between Goldkanoff and Misgav Mayor Danny Ivri, Moshe Davidovitch, Mateh Asher Council Head, Lower Galilee Council Head Nitzan Peleg and Merom Hagalil Council Head Amit Sofer was scheduled to take place this Sunday. However, Goldkanoff's office told council leaders that it would be postponed to another date.
A settlement in the north. Gaps between Jews and Arabs, Photo: Eyal Margolin/Ginny
Although Goldkanoff did not hear the position of the mayors, he is expected to make a series of critical decisions regarding settlement in the north at a meeting of the Israel Land Council on Monday. The meeting will determine the ILA's construction policy and assumptions in communal communities in the north, which, according to the heads of the Jewish communities in the area, is extremely discriminatory and gives discounts to Arab localities that are not accepted in Jewish localities. As reported in Israel Hayom, the decisions will be made unilaterally by the Israel Authority, even though an interministerial team ordered by Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is supposed to shape the government's rescue policy for Jewish settlement in the north, is only at the beginning of its work.
Misgav Council head Danny Ivri, who is leading the struggle to save Jewish settlement in the Galilee, sent an angry letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu warning that if he did not intervene, the ILA would "torpedo the decisions of the Israeli government." Ivri writes to Netanyahu that, "In the government decision of May 21, it was decided to establish a team whose goal is to increase the subsidy of land costs in localities located in national priority areas where there is demographic and/or security distress." But the agenda of the Israel Land Council as of June 5 includes a proposal that will have the opposite effect. The purpose of the decision is only to 'embarrass' community communities as if they are 'not interested in growing.'
"The purpose of the decision is only to 'embarrass' community communities as if they are 'not interested in growing.'" Israel Land Authority building, photo: Uri Lenz
"The expected result is continued discrimination between veterans entitled to the Ministry of Housing, since Jews will actually pay 70-90% of the value of land and Arabs will actually pay 10-20%. Anyone involved in community construction and settlement in the periphery, far from the State of Tel Aviv, understands that the proposal is intended precisely to prevent demographic growth and to strengthen and enlarge rural community settlements in the heart of the Galilee. I would like to draw the attention of the Israeli government to the fact that its decision will be torpedoed and that the team that was established will be emptied of any significance if this proposal is approved."
Demonstrators removed from the conference attended by Minister Goldknopf // The use is made in accordance with section 27A of the Copyright Law
Ivri's letter comes against the backdrop of very strong criticism of the Israel Authority by Netanyahu and the ministers. As revealed in Israel Hayom, Netanyahu defined the policy as catastrophic and insane, and Defense Minister Galant even claimed that its policy is anti-Zionist. The housing minister rejected Netanyahu's remarks, and in a letter of reply circulated among the ministers, he defined their claims as "empty criticism." It should be noted that the upcoming meeting of the interministerial team decided upon by the government is scheduled for this coming Monday.
The housing minister's office said a new date would be set for a meeting with the heads of councils in the north. And that if the intergovernmental team makes decisions other than today's policy, it will be amended later.
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