Welfare state over the Green Line

[Classical_Liberal]

Still, why did the majority of development town residents remain apathetic to the slogan of the left - "Money for low-income neighborhoods, not for settlements" - and act against what seemed to be their own clear interests? There is a very rational explanation for this question, and it lies in the actions of those who thought up the slogan. The second government of Yitzhak Rabin did invest more resources in education and infrastructure, but also promoted privatization of the economy, dominance of the manpower companies in the field of labor relations and the National Health Insurance Law, which exacerbated both black and gray medicine. In Israel within the Green Line, education, health, infrastructures and communal services became commodities, and as such, operated under the principle that wealthier members of society are able to purchase more of them.

Simultaneous with the dismantling of the welfare state inside the Green Line, a remarkable welfare state was built up on the other side. After essential services were cast beyond the reach of Israelis with low incomes, the settlements became the only city of refuge to which they could move.

It is sufficient to peruse the Haaretz Rosh Hashanah supplement (September 26, 2003) to understand this: massive investment in education yielded high success rates on high-school matriculation exams (71.4 percent in the West Bank and 69.6 percent in the Gaza Strip, as compared to 47 percent in development towns). The added expenditure (beyond the ordinary budget) on health beyond the Green Line amounted to NIS 75 million a year. Housing benefits and incentives for production durables in the settlements totaled approximately NIS 400 million in 2003 - in the Jordan Valley alone. Sixty settlements received 13 percent tax discounts. Anyone who bought an apartment in a settlement received a grant and loan of about NIS 90,000 per apartment. Teachers were entitled to numerous benefits.

The collapse of the welfare state within the Green Line, along with the massive investments in the territories, created a new demographic reality that linked Sderot with Gush Katif. The Israeli lower class became one of the dominant factors in erasing the Green Line and strengthening the occupation regime. This explains why you can find siblings living in the settlements of Gush Katif and the towns of Sderot and Ofakim: those who moved - and prospered, and those who were left behind.......

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/431572.html