Labor leader blasts government for allotting 25% of transportation infrastructure budget ‘for settlers’

Digital plan for the Hawara bypass route (upper road) in the northern West Bank. (Yesha Council)
Digital plan for the Hawara bypass route (upper road) in the northern West Bank. (Yesha Council)

Likud lawmaker Miri Regev’s Transportation Ministry has released a summary of its proposed budget after concluding negotiations with Bezalel Smotrich’s Finance Ministry.

Labor chair Merav Michaeli tears into the government for funneling 25 percent of the Transportation Ministry’s budget for infrastructure to serve West Bank settlers, who make up less than five percent of Israel’s population.

NIS 160 million ($43.74 million) will go toward improving existing West Bank roads, NIS 156 million ($43 million) will go toward the paving of the Issawiya interchange, NIS 80 million ($22 million) will go toward the establishment of a highway around East Jerusalem, NIS 500 million ($137 million) will go toward the expansion of a highway connecting the Ariel and Tapuah junctions, NIS 300 million ($82 million) will go toward a new road connecting the Migron settlement to Qalandiya, NIS 150 million ($41 million) will go toward a new road in Alfei Menashe, NIS 200 million ($54.67 million) will go toward a road that bypasses the Palestinian village of Funduq, NIS 2 billion ($547 million) will go toward upgrading the West Bank’s main north-south highway Route 60. and NIS 366 million ($100 million) will go toward expanding the access road into the Beit El settlement

Supporters of such projects argue that road infrastructure in the West Bank has been neglected for decades, leading to safety risks and constant traffic jams. They note that the roads are used by both settlers and Palestinians and that improving them is in the interest of both populations.

Opponents argue that the projects further entrench Israel’s presence in the West Bank, making separation from the Palestinians all the more difficult. Moreover, they say that the projects advanced by the government prioritize the transportation needs of settlers over or at the expense of those of Palestinians.

Michaeli highlights the “second-class citizen” campaign that supporters of the judicial overhaul have launched in which they claim that protesters are denying them the fruits of their election victory.

“Bezalel Smotrich and Miri Regev are leading the ‘second-class citizens’ campaign; but at the same time, they are taking hundreds of millions from the public purse to build roads that will be used mainly by the settlers. (Less than 5% of the population will receive 25% of the budget. Crazy),'” Michaeli tweets.

“Make no mistake, this is mainly at the expense of investing in roads in periphery towns. This is how the Likud government perpetuates the weakness of the periphery for decades,” she says

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