Furtive finance of settlements a top Israeli election issue

In this June 4, 2012 file photo, Jewish settlers march during a demonstration against the proposed decision to evacuate a West Bank outpost in the Ulpana neighborhood, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El near the Palestinians city of Ramallah. Opposition politicians politicians have singled out the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division, Israel's main subcontractor in the settlements, for its inflated budgets and little accountability. Israel funneled eight times more funding to the group this year than what was initially approved in the national budget. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File) In this June 4, 2012 file photo, Jewish settlers march during a demonstration against the proposed decision to evacuate a West Bank outpost in the Ulpana neighborhood, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El near the Palestinians city of Ramallah. Opposition politicians politicians have singled out the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division, Israel's main subcontractor in the settlements, for its inflated budgets and little accountability. Israel funneled eight times more funding to the group this year than what was initially approved in the national budget. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

By Associated Press February 5, 2015 6 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) – Taxpayer support for an agency fueling the expansion of West Bank settlements rose by more than $100 million last year, making it a top recipient of money being furtively channeled into politicians’ pet projects, according to an Associated Press analysis.

The AP examination of national budget figures found that the settlement building unit of the World Zionist Organization received a bigger funding boost last year than nearly any other government-backed project. The figures provide a rare glimpse behind the smoke screen of bureaucracy that finances one of Israel’s most widely condemned practices.

More than 350,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and 200,000 more in east Jerusalem today. The Palestinians want both areas – captured by Israel in the 1967 war – included in their future state, and the international community regularly denounces Israeli expansion of settlements in occupied lands as illegal.

For nearly half a century, the Zionists’ Settlement Division has played a key role in managing land and infrastructure in these bitterly disputed settlements. Although its funding comes entirely from the government, its finances are largely kept secret.

According to 2014 budget figures, public funding for the division increased more than eightfold last year, including a last-minute spending spree advanced by pro-settlement lawmakers just days after the collapse of Israel’s previous government.