The Finance Ministry recently warned that the country would go bankrupt due to a failure to integrate Arab women and ultra-Orthodox men into the job market. Unfortunately there is common tendency in the Israeli public, even in professional circles, to blame the victim and place most of the responsibility for failing to build daycare centers - the supportive infrastructure for integrating Arab women into the job market - on the Arab local councils, instead of on the government. But the facts tell a very different story.
First of all, let us not forget that in the Jewish local authorities there is a daycare center for every 250 children, while in the Arab towns there is one for every 2,000 children - the result of decades of systematic discrimination by the government against the Arab Local Authorities. With the festive announcement in August 2014 to the effect that the government had allocated NIS 1.2 billion shekels over six years for planning and building daycare centers, NGO, Sikkuy, examined the situation in depth. Already then it was claimed that earmarking part of this budget for the Arab local councils and a significant reduction in matching funds required of them are important steps, but they are insufficient for dealing with the deep-seated planning barriers preventing the Arab local councils from making use of the budget.
By the beginning of 2015 it turned out that all the requests submitted by the Arab councils for building daycare centers had been rejected by the Ministry of Economy, mainly due to a failure to include a valid construction permit as a precondition for receiving the money. Now it is clear: the main barrier preventing Arab councils from exploiting the budget is planning. In order to receive a permit from the Ministry of Economy to build a daycare center you need a construction permit, which can't be issued without a detailed plan based on a master plan. Only 19 Arab councils have an authorized master plan, and detailed plans are even rarer (most of the plans of the Arab councils have been stuck for years in the planning committees). In addition, there is a need for land designated for public use, which is sorely lacking in the Arab councils.
Only recently did the government take responsibility for the creation and solution of housing and planning problems in Arab society in the "120 Days" report. Of course the government alone will not be able to close the gap in the construction of daycare centers, and the Arab councils will have to do their part. But money alone is not the solution, and the government must take additional steps.
Other government ministries have long understood the problem. The Transport Ministry allocated a full-time job slot for advising the Arab municipalities. The Education Ministry has an Engineering Department to assist all the local councils, Arab as well as Jewish. The Ministry of Economy claims that it provides a similar solution, but its assistance is insufficient - there isn't even a half-time staff position for dealing with the problem, and those serving in the position lack the necessary expertise in planning. The only thing they have at their disposal is knowledge of Arabic and some good will.
The ministry also claims that it has four people helping the local councils to submit proposals. It neglected to mention that these are actually job slots belonging to the Authority for the Economic Development of the Arab Society. The jobs, which are awaiting the approval of the 2015 budget, are supposed to provide a solution to 78 Arab local councils in all the spheres where the government issues “requests for proposals”, including daycare centers.
The Economy Ministry must allocate suitable manpower to assist the Arab councils. It must approach all the councils that submitted requests to build daycare centers, and together with them find solutions to the barriers that have prevented them from meeting the conditions of the government proposals. Furthermore, it must turn to the councils that failed to submit a request in order to help them to offer this basic service to their residents.
As long as the government ministries lack a comprehensive plan to alleviate the planning barriers and the shortage of public land, this underutilization of important budgets by the Arab towns will continue. There is need for a government policy adapted to the current reality of the Arab local authorities, accompanied by an inter-ministerial team headed by the director general of the Ministry of Economy, to assist in eliminating the barriers preventing the construction of daycare centers. They must work together with the heads of Arab local councils and Arab MKs to complete the process initiated by the government, so that the Arab councils will finally be able to utilize these budgets after years of discrimination.
The authors are researchers in the Equal Policy Department of Sikkuy- The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 9, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015