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Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/343489.html
Response: Settlers Cost State Less than Galilee, Negev, or Northern Border Residents
(Ha'aretz) - Moti Bassok Moshe Yogev, treasurer of Amana, the settlement movement, responded: Ha'aretz's point of origin is a comparison between ourselves and residents of Tel Aviv; but we believe the right comparison is between ourselves and residents of communities on the northern border. A resident of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza costs the state less than half that of a resident of the northern border. According to Interior Ministry statistics, local councils in the territories receive less money than counterpart councils in the Galilee and the Negev. Out of NIS 11 billion surveyed in the report, NIS 9 billion are loans that are also provided to residents of the Galilee and Negev. These loans are paid back. The Ha'aretz report included all the roads that have been paved in the territories, even though the paving of some of them derives from the Oslo accords, agreements which prevent us from traveling on roads we used before they were signed. In addition, a large number of the roads would have been paved in any case for use by the IDF.