Allocating new resources (Illustration)
Photo: CD Bank
The Prime Minister's Office presented the ministers with the new national priorities plan, ahead of future cabinet deliberations on the matter.
The plan defines the general outline of governmental benefits and incentives in the field of education, housing, urban development, employment and infrastructure; and also applies to the 110,000 Jewish residents of the West Bank, who live outside the settlement blocks.
According to the plan, national priority areas will include two million citizens, 40% of whom are minorities, and the majority of those – Israeli Arabs.
The plan also calls for a new definition of national priority areas according to the area or community's security situation, financial and social resilience and level of governmental services.
Other criteria take into account geography, population spanning, the area or community's distance from central Israel, the need to bridge social gaps and the ratio of new immigrants.