Instead of getting an Independence Day gift from the state, Bror Hayil, Ruhama, and Dorot, three kibbutzim in southern Israel, have been removed from the list of communities being given top national priority. The report reached Shaar Hanegev Regional Council head Alon Shuster without his having received any explanation or having been contacted by government representatives.
The Shaar Hanegev Regional Council's jurisdiction includes Kibbutzim Or HaNer, Erez, Kfar Aza, Mefalsim, Nahal Oz, and Nir Am, and Moshav Yakhini, as well as the Sharon family's Shikmim Farm, student villages Ayalim and Ibim, Sapir Academic College, and a cluster of schools next to Kibbutz Gevim. Every day, the children of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, including both distant Kibbutz Ruhama and Kibbutzim Bror Hayil and Dorot, travel dozens of kilometers to Kibbutz Gevim, which lies within the area classified as close to the Gaza Strip border. The parents, families, and residents of the entire Shaar Hanegev Regional Council area come into contact with the border for purposes of employment, education, commerce, children's transportation, etc. The Shaar Hanegev Regional Council and the three kibbutzim say they have nevertheless been removed from the priority list.
The reason is that communities located up to two kilometers from the Gaza Strip border are classified as being "adjacent to the border fence." Communities located 2-7 kilometers from the border fence are classified as being "near the border fence." Both of these categories receive top national priority. The fields of Dorot and Bror Hayil and the access roads to them are seven kilometers or more from the fence and were therefore removed from the list. Ruhama is 14 kilometers from the fence and was therefore also removed.
Communities in outlying areas that are statistically classified as socially disadvantaged are also included on the top priority list, but Dorot, Bror Hayi and Ruhama are not economically disadvantaged enough to be included for this reason.
The decision came as a total surprise to the kibbutzim. They said that it never occurred to them that all the residents of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council except for them would receive top priority. The benefits involved are estimated in the tens of millions of shekels, although the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council has not yet taken into account all the consequences and the way that this extra budget will be left to the council.
When the national priority list from which the three kibbutzim were removed was planned, it was argued in the government's staff work that if these three kibbutzim were included in the list, the budget to which the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council would be entitled would detract from the communities adjacent to the border fence, because the money given to Kibbutzim Erez, Gevim, and Nir Am, for example, would be divided among a larger number of residents. This was the situation up until now; if over 50% of an area is classified as having top national priority, every kibbutz or community located in that area got the same benefits. In practice, despite this argument, the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council will have to bear the economic consequences of the decision, which will affect the entire region.
The effect, which is likely to be in the tens of millions of shekels, includes government subsidies of infrastructure development for new construction. This could amount to NIS 8 million. Other elements of which the three kibbutzim will be deprived are subsidies for cultural events, benefits in access to higher education, business promotion in the region, and in agriculture, in which kibbutzim having national priority enjoy a range of subsidies that will no longer be available to Ruhama, Dorot, and Bror Hayil.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 22, 2018
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