On 31/10/24, the government approved the “Economic Plan for 2025 – Structural Changes” also known as “The Arrangements Law“. The Arrangements Law is a document that contains a series of government programs and reforms designed to reduce budgetary spending and allow the government to implement its economic policy. Some of the plans in the Arrangements Law require legislative amendments and will be brought to the Knesset for approval together with the budget proposal, but the rest of the plans came into effect as a government decision from 31/10/24.
Among the reforms the government decided on are far-reaching economic measures that harm vulnerable populations, but alongside them are also a series of measures designed to deepen Israeli control over the Occupied Territories and promote annexation. Among other things, the Arrangements Law includes the following:
1. Construction of Israeli power plants and solar fields in the West Bank.
2. Establishment of metropolitan transport authorities – preparation for transport annexation.
3. Deepening the collection of payments for land – just not in settlements.
4. Increasing the number of places for medical students – significantly for Ariel University.
Peace Now: Under the guise of budgetary reforms, the government is introducing far-reaching annexation measures through the back door, bypassing public discussion. The Netanyahu government seeks to perpetuate the current situation of endless bloody war, occupation, and conflict, and block any possibility of a future of peace, political settlement, and security.
1. Construction of Israeli power plants and solar fields in the West Bank
Under the title: “Promoting the energy security of the Israeli electricity sector” the government decided to build power plants and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in the West Bank. The plan aims to utilize Palestinian territories to supply electricity to Israel, thereby increasing Israel’s reliance on the infrastructure that will be developed specifically in the West Bank. At the same time, the establishment of energy projects in the West Bank will increase Palestinian dependence on Israel.
A. Construction of two Israeli power plants in the West Bank
The government decided to build two Israeli power plants and promote the planning of additional power plants in the West Bank. For this purpose, tenders will be published that will offer private entrepreneurs the rights to build power plants and produce electricity. To operate the power plants, an infrastructure will be built to transport natural gas from the gas reservoirs in the Mediterranean Sea to the West Bank to the power plants that will be built.
Today, the Palestinian Authority purchases from Israel most of the electricity used by the Palestinians in the West Bank. Instead of allowing Palestinian entrepreneurs to build power plants that will develop the Palestinian economy and its potential for independence, the government is building Israeli power plants that will generate electricity, some of which will be sold to the Palestinians and some of which will be used by Israel.
It should be noted that the government is aware that international law prohibits the establishment of Israeli infrastructure in the occupied territories. The legal opinion attached to the decision acknowledges this but offers legal acrobatics according to which it can be said that the Palestinians will benefit from these power plants because they already buy their electricity from Israel, and they will even benefit from lower electricity prices as a result of the competition that will be created between the power plants.
B. Allocation of 2,000 dunams in the West Bank to entrepreneurs for the establishment of solar fields
The government intends to allow Israeli settlers and entrepreneurs to set up solar electricity fields in a huge area of 2,000 dunams (an area larger than the area of a small city like Kiryat Bialik, or Kochav Yair) in the West Bank. These areas do not have to be concentrated in one large solar PV field, and they can be in smaller areas in several places in the West Bank. It should be noted that as of today, according to Kerem Navot data, there are solar fields in the settlements over about 925 dunams, most of them in the Jordan Valley (in addition to solar installations that are installed on the roofs of structures).
It should be noted that alongside the development of the Israeli solar fields, Israel does not allow the Palestinians to develop independent solar fields in Area C. In Areas A and B they are limited to solar fields for local electricity supply only due to the need to connect to the Israeli electricity grid in order to produce on a larger scale.
For more on the planned power plants and solar fields – see here.
The construction of a bridge at the Southern part of the Eastern Ring Road, Sur Baher, East Jerusalem, May 2020
2. Establishment of metropolitan transport authorities – preparation for transport annexation
The government decided to establish an authority under the Ministry of Transportation that will manage public transportation in various metropolitan areas. The proposed metropolitan areas do not include the Occupied Territories, but at the same time, Article 2(17) states that the authority may also add to its management lines that pass through areas adjacent to the metropolitan authority. This section apparently allows for the inclusion under the Israeli metropolitan administration of transportation lines in the settlements, especially near the Jerusalem metropolis.
Furthermore, the decision explicitly seeks to include in the future also settlements under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Jerusalem. Section 7 of the decision states: “To instruct the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense to examine a legal outline for the application of metropolitan arrangements also with respect to local authorities in Judea and Samaria that constitute part of the Jerusalem metropolitan area in the transportation aspect.“
In other words, the government declares here its intention to carry out annexation in the transportation sector as well and to find the legal acrobatics that will allow the management of settlements in occupied territory within a single transportation administration with localities within Israel.
The opinion of the Ministry of Defense’s Legal Adviser attached to the decision states, states that there is “some legal complexity” in this matter because within Israel the transportation authorities operate under Israeli law while in the West Bank, they operate under the law applicable in the Occupied Territories and the Defense Act. In fact, the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Defense hints that adding settlements to the metropolitan authority would constitute annexation, which would apply Israeli law to the occupied territory.
However, the legal advisor also points to an outline for a legal solution to the problem. The legal advisor suggests that instead of the Metropolitan Authority directly operating transportation in the settlements, it will be based “on a set of agreements for the purpose of providing services” so that it will “rent” services from the Civil Administration to operate the transportation system in the settlements.
3. Deepening the collection of the payment on the lands – but not in the settlements
The government decided on a series of steps to deepen the collection of payments on the lands and to ensure that the Israel Land Authority collects debts and use fees estimated at about a billion NIS.
The decision deals exclusively with land within Israel, while the situation in the vast majority of settlements, where the land is managed by the Settlement Division, is that the state does not collect even one shekel from settlers for the land where they live, run businesses or cultivate (only in about 13 settlements that are managed by the Custodian of Government Land is payment for the land collected).
In this way, the state allows construction entrepreneurs in settlements, such as Amana, together with the settlements, to pocket the value of the land. The financial loss from collecting lease fees from settlers was estimated in the state comptroller’s report in 2013 at hundreds of millions of shekels, so today the loss likely exceeds one billion shekels.
A government that seeks to find every possible financial source to meet the enormous economic challenges facing Israel, should start collecting the funds it is obligated to collect according to the law, and not continue to allow the lawlessness that exists in the territories in regards to land management.
It should be noted that funds collected for the use of land in the occupied territories are supposed to be used for the management of the territories only.
4. Increasing the number of places for medical students – significantly for Ariel University
In the government’s decision on “optimizing medical manpower in the health system and dealing with the expected shortage“, the government intends to significantly increase the quotas for medical students, especially in the “Tel Aviv, Central, and Ariel area”. Two medical universities operate in this area, Tel Aviv (with the largest number of medical students in the country) and Ariel, which has significant growth potential. The number of quotas in this region should increase from 375 quotas in 2024 to 689 quotas in 2027 (an addition of 314 quotas compared to additions of 32 in the region of Be’er Sheva, 15 in Jerusalem, 158 in Haifa, and 42 in the northern region). These quotas also come with an increase in the budget for the universities where the students study.
It should be noted that Ariel University is located in the heart of the West Bank but does not serve the Palestinian residents of the area but the residents of Israel almost exclusively. The existence of a medical faculty in the settlement endangers the ability of Israeli medical institutions to benefit from international collaborations, which are especially essential in the medical field. The tolerance of international institutions towards the continuation of the Israeli occupation and the willingness to cooperate with it is getting shorter, especially after the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice from last July.
Peace Now’s protest against the establishment of Ariel University, 17/7/12