Recently, the moshav Neve Ativ made headlines, and this time not because of the high entrance fee to the Hermon site. The media discussion revolved around the vacation of the prime minister and his family in the moshav. Two months ago, the High Court of Justice also dealt not with the public's right to natural resources, but with the right to demonstrate against Netanyahu within the boundaries of the community. The essential questions have not yet been asked: Why do only the 150 residents of the moshav enjoy almost exclusively the profits of Mount Hermon, our natural resource? Why does their interest trump freedom of movement, freedom of occupation, and the public interest?
After the Six-Day War, everyone was interested in snow, a unique resource in a country like Israel. A year later, Mount Hermon was already opened for skiing. The government authority that managed the site paved an access road and built a cable car in 1971. Among those interested in the mountain were several veterans of the Egoz Patrol, who established the Neve Ativ nucleus in the area and engaged in contracting work. They operated a snack bar on the mountain that was set up on an old bus, but their ambitions were great: they wanted exclusivity on the mountain as the means of production of the settlement they would establish.
Their dream came true almost immediately. In 1972, Neve Ativ was officially inaugurated, with the blessing of army commanders Ariel Sharon and Raful, who handed over large areas of the Beka Valley to the few nuclear members. These were days without tenders, and in July '73 they received ownership of 3,343 dunams, of which about a third is the Hermon site. Two companies owned by the moshav began operating exclusively on the site - "Mount Hermon" and "Hermon Ski" - and charged an entrance fee. Thousands visited Mount Hermon every day during the snowy season - families and individuals, children and adults. Everyone wanted to "touch the snow." But in the collective memory of many of us, especially as children, on Mount Hermon, the class gaps were visible, blatant. After all, this was not a ski resort on the peaks of the Alps, but in Israel in the 80s and 90s. Even residents of nearby settlements, who woke up every morning to the sight of the snowy mountain, could not always afford to enter. "There is another mountain opposite, let's prepare it so that Israeli children will touch the snow," said one Neve Ativ resident in a Knesset debate on the public's right to access the natural resource.
The exclusivity of the companies operating the site was first challenged in court in 2008, following their demand to halt private training on Mount Hermon. At the time, the judge ruled that this was a violation of the freedom of occupation of ski instructors in Israel and the creation of a monopoly. At the same hearing, it was revealed that the moshav owned and operated the site without an agreement from 1996, but in 2013 a new lease was signed with it until 2045, along with royalties of five percent to the state and a promise of lower prices.
Residents of kibbutzim and moshavim directly benefit from natural resources, even if they are not involved at all in the work involved in their operation. Every year, hundreds of thousands of shekels and even millions of shekels enter their bank accounts. Just because they're there
Like Mount Hermon, many of Israel's natural resources have been handed over to private hands, and access to them is illegally denied to the public. Hamat Gader, for example, is owned by four kibbutzim from the Golan Regional Council, to which Neve Ativ also belongs. The residents of the kibbutzim and moshavim benefit directly from natural resources, even if they are not involved in the work involved in their operation. Every year, hundreds of thousands of shekels and even millions of shekels enter their bank accounts. Just because they're there.
The socioeconomic characteristics of the Golan Regional Council localities indicate clear inequality: all the kibbutzim of the Kibbutz Movement and all the seats of the Moshavim Movement, without exception, are in socioeconomic cluster 7 or 8 (1 lowest and 10 highest). On the other hand, almost all other moshavim, most of them Hapoel Mizrachi, some religious, are ranked in clusters 3 to 5. There is a reason for this: while the secular kibbutzim and moshavim form partnerships between them in profitable businesses and hold profitable natural resources, most of the religious moshavim make a living from agriculture and the free professions. It seems as if Mapai has never passed, and the red ledger is brighter than ever. In fact, Israel is becoming more and more ethnically and class-divided. These days, when the discourse about separation in the public sphere arises, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the State of Israel is already a state in separation.
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