An expert considered the 15 billion shekels designated for supporting Palestinians in Israel nothing but “crumbs” and an “anesthetic.” This amount of money is spread over a period of five years instead of being assigned to one year only. The expert demanded an apparent increase in money embarked for Palestinians in Israel.  

Palestine Economy Portal

Translated by Tamara Barakat

The economic expert, Wael Kareem, said that Israel, who is member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is being forced to improve the conditions of Palestinians living in Israel due to pressure from the OECD’s members. The expected support allocated to them by the Israeli Government will amount to 15 billion shekels, which Kareem described as “crumbs.”

He told the Palestine Economy Portal that the OECD noticed the great injustice toward the Palestinian minority in Israel, especially after reports indicating that the poverty rates in Israel increased to 21% were published, which is a relatively high rate in comparison to those in the other member countries of the OECD. Also, the percentage of families living below the poverty line rose to 56%.

The annual report issued by the National Insurance Institute in 2014 on poverty in Israel revealed that poverty rates among Palestinians in Israel are continually increasing, and more than half of Palestinian families live below the poverty line.

In comparison with 2013, the percentage of poor families increased from 51.7% to 52.6% in 2014. The report showed that poverty heavily increased, the number of poor families rose, and poverty rates among children also increased.

The overall poverty rate among Palestinian families (including children), which form half of the poor families, increased from 23% in 2013 to 23.3% in 2014.

As for the budget embarked for Palestinians in Israel, which was described as a great amount of money, Kareem said that it is nothing but “crumbs” since the support to Palestinians in Israel is supposed to be 20% of Israel’s budget. The amount should reach 60 billion shekels, but Israel will only provide them with 15 billion shekels.

Moreover, Kareem described this budget not only as “crumbs,” but also as an “anesthetic.” It will be divided over a period of five years instead of being assigned to one year only. He demanded an apparent increase in money embarked for Palestinians in Israel. 

He expected that Israel will approve of the 15-billion-shekel support at the end of 2016, and this support will be postponed to 2017.

The Israeli Government postponed the approval of the five-year plan for the development and growth of Palestinian cities and towns in Israel to Wednesday instead of Sunday. The Israeli Government is to approve granting 15 billion shekels for the development of Palestinian communities in different sectors, such as education, housing, infrastructure, and unemployment. 

Dr. Basel Ghattas, MK and member of Finance Committee, told the arab48 website, “It is obvious from the series of reports and data on poverty in the Palestinian community that poverty is like a chronic illness that cannot be treated by any of the available treatments, and this is the result of the former government’s financial policy.”

(Palestine Economy Portal, Arab48, Agencies)