Gush Etzion head welcomes additional budget
June 19, 2016The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Davidi Perl, on Sunday expressed his satisfaction with the government’s decision to transfer an additional budget to communities in Judea and Samaria due to of the wave of terrorism that has hit the Jewish population in the region.
“There is not a sense of relief – but definitely a sense that justice is starting to be done,” he told Arutz Sheva. “We have been suffering here since Operation Brother’s Keeper (the search for the three yeshiva students who were kidnapped and murdered –ed.) and especially in the last six months there were a lot of attacks. The population suffered, businesses have suffered greatly.”
Perl emphasized that this harsh reality must be handled by the Israeli government, just as it would do in Sderot or in Jerusalem.
“Today the Prime Minister, along with the Cabinet Ministers, made a courageous decision that neither makes us rich nor gives us something we do not deserve. It helps in the face of the difficulties and the problems that have been created here because of the intolerable situation,” he explained.
He referred to the situation on the ground and noted that “businesses today are starting to recover due to the fact that since Passover there have been fewer attacks. However, it takes many years to correct what was destroyed in six months. We will continue to work with all the parties to help to restore the situation to what it was. We are not scared.”
According to the government decision approved on Sunday, the additional budget includes a one-off Interior Ministry grant of 15 million shekels to local councils in Judea and Samaria, to help them cope with ongoing Arab terrorism.
The Agriculture Ministry will transfer 10 million shekels to convert a number of temporary structures into permanent ones, as well as for renovations of public buildings.
The Health, Education and Welfare ministries will be allocating 12 million shekels over the course of three years, for security needs including running safe rooms, security assessments and providing social-psychological support to victims of terror.
The Welfare Ministry will be providing an additional six million shekels for other social services in Judea and Samaria, while another 5.5 million shekels has been allocated to the local tourism industry.
One particularly significant aspect of the budget is that, after years of abortive efforts by the government to approve funding for the establishment of hotels in Judea and Samaria, the government passed Tourism Minister Yariv Levin’s recommendation to cover 20% of the costs of building hotels in Judea and Samaria as an incentive for investment in Israel’s Biblical heartland.
Similar posts
-
Timeline of the Gaza Strip Since 1906
June 3, 20241906: A line is drawn between Egypt, ruled de facto by Britain, and the rest of the Ottoman Em...
-
Israel Is Held To A Higher Standard Than Any Country
April 25, 2024In the intricate tapestry of global affairs, one nation stands out for enduring scrutiny and condem...
-
Israel Has The Most Moral Military In The World
April 10, 2024In the heart of a region often riddled with conflict, Israel stands out not only for its technologi...
-
The Resilience of the Israeli People
April 2, 2024Visitors from around the world have seen Hamas's October 7th Massacre's destruction in southern Isr...
-
Israel: Small Size, Big Impact
March 21, 2024Nestled along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is a land of immense historical sig...
-
Israelis Are Fighting For Their Lives
February 21, 2024By Jonathan S. Tobin The world looks a lot different from Kibbutz Kfar Aza than it does in the U...
-
Over 2 Million Arabs Live In Israel
January 23, 2024In the complex landscape of the Middle East, where diverse cultures and identities intersect, Israe...
-
'Fauda' Star Idan Amedi Injured Fighting in Gaza
January 8, 2024Despite the severity of his injuries, Amedi's father assured Israeli news channels that his life is...