The Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, chaired by MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit), held a heated debate on Monday on the topic of “Exclusion of the Jewish sector in tenders issued by the Israel Land Authority (ILA).”
committee chair MK Kroizer sharply criticized the country’s planning bodies, saying they are carrying out a “silent transfer” that prevents Jews from settling in the Negev and the Galilee. He pointed to two main phenomena which, according to him, are proof of systematic exclusion of Jews.
According to him, the ILA markets land in Arab localities exclusively to local residents, thereby excluding Jews from competing for the plots. By contrast, in tenders for Jewish localities, only a small portion of the plots are reserved for locals, while the rest are open to all. “This reality creates blatant discrimination,” said Committee Chair MK Kroizer.
He further stated that the dramatic price gaps between lands in Jewish localities and those in neighboring Arab localities discriminate between Jews and Arabs. “How is it possible that land in Omer costs a certain amount, while land in nearby Hura and Lakiya is hundreds of percent cheaper? This is transfer and exclusion of Jews under the auspices of the state‘s planning bodies, and it is time to change it,” said Committee Chair MK Kroizer.
During the discussion, Committee Chair MK Kroizer also criticized the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Ministry of Interior, arguing that ultra-Orthodox parties that headed these ministries for years allowed this failure to occur. Committee Chair MK Kroizer called on the planning bodies to immediately change their policy in order to ensure equal settlement opportunities for all citizens in the Negev and the Galilee. He clarified that he intends to continue monitoring the issue until a suitable solution is found to what he said undermines the social fabric and national resilience of the State of Israel. “We are in a last-ditch battle until the last Jew turns off the light in the Galilee,” he said.
MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) said that in Binyamin and Judea and Samaria in general, new communities are being established, but in the Negev and the Galilee it has not been possible to establish new communities for decades, despite the fact that the Galilee and Negev enjoy a broader consensus than Judea and Samaria.
Yonatan Ahiya, chair of the Artzenu (Our Land) non-profit organization, said that Jewish settlement in the Galilee is “the State of Israel’s eighth front,” and that the Galilee has been taken over by the Islamic Movement. “It is time for the state and its ministries to wake up,” he said.
Adv. Yonah Admoni of the Regavim movement said that the housing-expansion plans actually legitimize illegal construction in minority localities. “In practice, there are 42 plans to expand housing supply in the north, most of them in minority localities,” she noted.
Osnat Zohar, a social activist, said the tenders designated for IDF reservists are insufficient: “We are talking about a ridiculous number of plots and at impossible prices. In Moshav Dor a tender was issued for disabled IDF veterans at a cost of NIS 5 million for half a dunam, and in Poria Illit -NIS 1.2 million before VAT and development expenses.” This she said, compared to plots in Arab localities marketed at NIS 80,000 for half a dunam in Wadi Hamam, NIS 44,000 in Bu’eine Nujeidat, and more. “Do you understand that we are losing entire regions? This is discrimination against the young Jewish generation,” said Zohar.
Yigal Malka of The Jewish Majority association pointed at localities on a map and said: “There is nowhere left for Jews to live today. Eight million Jews are fighting over a third of the country, while a million Arabs can live wherever they want. A Jew cannot submit a bid for NIS 130,000 in Rahat. A Bedouin, who may not even serve in the army, gets land at 10% of the price compared to his Jewish reservist neighbor in Lehavim. My son, who lost friends in the war and just finished his reserve duty, tells me he is leaving, that he has no future here. We are going to lose the country.”
Gil Balulu, the Chief Government Appraiser, explained that he is responsible for the land valuations. “As appraisers, we reflect the value of land. We examine transactions using professional tools and determine the land’s value. All of our appraisals are subject to review, and one may appeal them. In the Misgav bloc, land prices are between NIS 3.5 and 4.5 million, and the land values are derived from that. In Hura and Tel Sheva, tenders were held but not based on appraisals.”
MK Kallner responded, saying that when the ILA sees fit to grant discounts on land, it benefits certain localities for its own reasons.
Hila Blutrich, legal counsel at the ILA, explained that the ILA generally acts to implement government decisions on priority areas and on giving preference to reservists. “There is no deal in our districts that is not implemented in accordance with these decisions,” she said, while noting that 700 housing units will soon be made available to reservists in the Northern District.
Committee Chair MK Kroizer concluded the debate by saying that he plans to ask the Prime Minister’s Office to clarify its policy regarding strengthening Jewish settlement in the Negev and Galilee and prioritizing IDF service members in tenders. “We are witnessing exclusion of the Jewish community from rural and urban areas, and we are obligated to change this reality. We will not relent until we see change,” he stated.
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