The cabinet approved a government resolution on Sunday to allocate NIS 75 million for bolstering infrastructure, including for security purposes, in illegal Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank.
The funds will provide some 70 illegal outposts — known in the settlement movement as “young settlements,” which have never been authorized by the government — with items such as firefighting equipment, prefabricated bomb shelters, generators, field cameras, lighting, and rescue equipment, according to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s office.
According to the resolution, the money will be disbursed by the Settlements and National Projects Ministry headed by minister Orit Strock of Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party.
The Kan public broadcaster reported last week that Smotrich had actually sought to allocate some NIS 255 million from the Interior Ministry for the needs of West Bank settlements.
The ministry’s legal adviser objected to NIS 180 million of that sum, however, saying the transfer of those funds had no justifiable reason. As a result, NIS 75 million was transferred from the Interior Ministry and other sources on Sunday instead.
“It is a great honor to give minimal security to the pioneers of our day, who are deep in the territory and do not deserve to be fourth-class citizens,” said Strock following approval of the funds, adding, “This is just the beginning.”
The various security components to be funded by the money still require the approval of the Attorney General’s Office, the resolution stated.
The dozens of settlements in question were established in the 1990s and early 2000s with the assistance of different ministries, including the housing and construction, defense, and energy ministries, but without formal approval from the government, meaning they are illegal under Israeli law.
Separately, the mayors of 22 cities and regional councils in the West Bank issued an unusually harsh condemnation of the government’s failure to approve NIS 150 million in security funding for lawful settlements, accusing the government of abandoning the security of the residents of the settlements.
The money, if approved, would be used to fund security fences, security cameras, communications equipment, and security equipment for West Bank settlements.
The item had been scheduled for a vote in cabinet, but was removed from the agenda before the Sunday’s meeting.
“Many of those who you are choosing to abandon are enlisted and are in the depths of Gaza and think the government of Israel is doing everything needed to protect their families, and that is not the case,” wrote the mayors, describing the decision as “insufferable” and complaining that the government had turned them into “beggars.”
The signatories included heads of the biggest settlements and regional municipal councils in the West Bank, including head of the Yesha Council settlements umbrella organization and Gush Etizion regional council chairman Shomo Ne’eman; Mayor of Ariel Eli Shaviro; Mayor of Beitar Illit Meir Rubenstein; Chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council Yisrael Gantz; and Mayor of Maale Adumim Benny Kashriel, among others.
The settlement leaders threatened that if the requested security budget is not passed soon, they would call a strike of the settlement municipal authorities.
A spokesperson for Smotrich denied that a resolution on the funds had been scheduled for a vote on Sunday.