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Despite the Opposition: Government Approved National Priorities Map
With a majority of 21 in favor against five opponents from the Labor party, the National Priorities Map was approved in the government. Shas voted in favor of the map after developing communities less than five years old and the Gush Katif evacuees were included. This approval occurred after it appeared this morning the vote would be postponed.
With a majority of 21 against five opponents from Labor, the map was approved. Due to pressure from Shas, critical changes were made: Any developing community less than five years old and the Gush Katif evacuees were included. The map also included all the settlements to which some government ministers and MKs expressed vigorous opposition.
Approval of the map was a surprise in the political system, because sufficient opposition was expected. In the morning it emerged that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would postpone the vote and instead hold a discussion. This was because the Labor ministers, in a faction meeting before the Cabinet meeting, received a message from Netanyahu's office that implied the vote would probably be delayed. The Prime Minister also suggested that Labor Chairman Ehud Barak, the Minister of Defense, should establish a limited Ministerial Committee to examine the list of towns included in the map, and only then the map would be submitted for approval.
As noted, although opposition was expected, the resolution passed. Before the vote, Netanyahu said the current national priorities list includes two million citizens, 40% of them non-Jewish. “It includes benefits in the fields of education, employment, and infrastructure," Netanyahu said of the list. "The issue of defense is also addressed."
Before the voting, Minister Ehud Barak called on the ministers not to support the map. "There are several small communities that are consistently the source of extreme activity that harm the fabric of life in areas of Judea and Samaria. For example, events such as the severe incident in the mosque on Friday. The Labor party’s priority is to Galilee, the Negev, and to the towns of the periphery. Period," Barak clarified his position.
After the vote Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog said that "there is no point playing ‘I wish it were so’ and to approve giving preference to communities that will not be part of a final settlement. It would be better to encourage benefits for balanced budgets and grants to the local authorities."
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