Here's where a LOT of dollars from US coffers is going.....right to the heart of the conflict....the constant irritant and complete roadblock to peace:
Jewish Settlements' Cost Estimated at $560 Million
The annual expenditure is for the benefit of 220,000 settlers, an Israeli newspaper says.
From Associated Press
JERUSALEM — The Israeli government spends at least $560 million a year
on subsidies, infrastructure and education for 220,000 Jewish settlers living in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli daily Haaretz said Tuesday.
The figure does not include military spending.
Since capturing the West
Bank and Gaza in 1967,
Israel has spent at least
$10.1 billion on
settlements, Haaretz
said.
Successive Israeli
governments have
refused to disclose how
much they spend on
settlements. Haaretz said
it compiled the figure
after three months of
research, including
interviews with dozens of experts and government
officials.
The settlements are seen as one barrier to reaching a peace agreement between Palestinians and
Israelis. Palestinians say Israel uses the settlements to grab land that they claim for a Palestinian state.
The number of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip hit 220,000 last year, an increase
of 5.7% from 2001, according to a report released Tuesday by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
The settlers' growth rate far outstripped the total Israeli growth rate of 1.6% and was more than double
the growth rate in any region of Israel, according to the report.
Nearly 5,000 of the 12,000 new settlers moved into the settlements from Israel or other countries. The
remainder of the growth was attributed to births.
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