— Concern over a lack of housing in newly established settlements in the Galilee and Arava regions was the topic of an urgent discussion here between Jewish Agency Executive chairman Leon Dulzin, Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon and the cochairmen of the Agency’s Settlement Department, Renaan Weitz and Matityahu Drobles.
The Jewish Agency is very concerned that lack of housing in these settlements will endanger their stability and dissipate funds already invested in their infrastructure. According to the Agency’s Settlement Department, 4000 housing units should be constructed in the shortest possible time in settlement areas under the Agency’s auspices within the Green Line only. Since housing is the government’s responsibility, Weitz proposed to discuss with the government, funding for a minimum of 1500 housing units in those areas.
The Agency would lay out the $30 million needed for the 1500 housing units on the condition that the government would include expenditures for this in the future budgets, Weitz said. He declared that he would be prepared to support this proposal with the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors if the government indicated that it was prepared to approve this transaction in principle. Sharon said he favored the proposal in principle and said he would explore the matter with the government.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
