Why won’t a large number of Israelis return to settlements near Lebanon?

Al-Mayadeen website reported that the Bank of Israel prepared a study, which showed that the north was suffering from the problem of the departure of its settlers due to the lack of convenient means of transportation and the lack of job opportunities for those with academic education, in what can be described as “negative migration,” since before “The Al-Aqsa Flood,” according to the Israeli “Davar Ahad” website.

The study showed that since the outbreak of the war, 50,000 settlers in the north have not returned to their homes after they were evacuated last October. It also showed that the growth rate in the northern settlements in the last decade was much lower than in the western Negev settlements, and that the educational level of the population in the north is lower than in the south, and the opportunities for good work are also fewer.

According to Davar Ahad, this is happening despite the fact that Israel is adopting a policy derived from the “classic Zionist concept,” according to which the government bears responsibility for attracting residents to live on the border as part of a “security concept,” while offering them many facilities in return. that.

In reference to the aid package that Israel provides to settlers in the north, the site explained that the Israeli authorities grant tax deductions even to families with middle and high incomes, as residents in all settlements in the north that are up to 5 km from the border with Lebanon receive tax rebates amounting to about 13%. , as an average.

The website pointed out that the Bank of Israel study showed that there are additional factors that encourage settlement in the north, in addition to tax cuts, and promote the movement of Israelis to border settlements, such as cheap housing prices, the level of educational institutions, and the quality of life in the surrounding area.

The Bank of Israel made a comparison between the reality of the northern border settlements and their counterparts in the western Negev, noting that the settlers of the western Negev are younger than those in the northern settlements. According to researchers at the Bank of Israel, these differences are due to two main factors: high birth rates in the south, and high immigration rates to the settlements of the western Negev.

The study’s conclusions showed that Israelis view the Negev with an optimistic outlook in terms of creating families and stability, in contrast to the view towards the northern region. This optimism is reflected in the numbers, according to the Bank of Israel, as in the last decade the Negev achieved annual growth two and a half times greater than the growth rate in Israel in general, due to the government’s large investment in developing housing, education and infrastructure plans.

As for the north, the figures included in the Bank of Israel study showed that the last decade recorded a decline in the number of settlers. This is due, among other reasons, to the complexity of the practical scope of the local authorities in the north, as the highest concentration in Israel of workers in independent projects, in factories or in agriculture is along the border with Lebanon, where more than 80% of the settlers in the north work on Close to homes. In the Negev, the rate is only 65%, due to the availability of highways and a train, which is not available in the north, as the train is not an option, as the Israel train does not reach most of the region, and the road network in the north makes it difficult to move to and from the center.

The “Bank of Israel” revealed in its study that the population census in Israel for the year 2022 showed that most of the immigrants to the northern border settlements came from settlements not far away, and that the people who leave the border with Lebanon are older than those who move there, and that the percentage of academics among those leaving is Higher than the percentage of people moving in.

The study also showed that the balance of immigration in the northern settlements is “relatively low to negative,” as the highest rates of departure are recorded in the north among all settlements adjacent to the border in Israel, while the majority of those leaving are those with university degrees, due to the lack of job opportunities.

At the conclusion of its study, the “Bank of Israel” expressed the great fear in Israel that a large number of those who evacuated from their homes in the north after the war would not return, due to the damage to their businesses and the fear that they would not continue. (Al-Mayadeen)