I lived in Alaska before the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) was established -- 72-74 -- and since -- 09-12, and it is recognized as one of the best-managed sovereign wealth funds in the world. The yearly dividend varies, and in recent years has paid (per individual) as little as ~$850 to as much as $2000+. Let me stress that the dividends are paid *per-individual*, NOT per-family. For traditionally large Muslim families, this could/would be a sizable amount. It would be interesting if Israel considered implementing such a plan for the rest of us.
If this proposal is implemented, I'd hope that Israeli citizens would insist on it.
It would be appropriate in other areas as well. During the Zehut Party campaign, one of the planks in the platform was for the government to sell off the 93% of land it owns in the country. I believe that sale of public lands should work this way as well, with the proceeds being distributed to the citizens of Israel, who are, after all, the owners of the state and of the land.
Re: Sale of public lands... proceeds being distributed.
There's recently been quite a furor, here in the US, over land sales [large] to foreigners... especially, but not limited, to mainland-Chinese buyers. Israel has a similar problem -- historically so -- with foreign buyers... of housing (single and/or multiple units); "foreigners", i.e., Israelis de jure, but not de facto, many of whom only come to Israel for "the holidays" (Rosh HaShana-Sukkot and Pesach), and either leave the apartments empty (of dwellers) or make them available for short-term (tourist) rentals during the rest of the year.
So the question is two-fold: Who can purchase "public lands", and to whom should the profits be distributed?
I mean, you're right that it's a problem. But it's not exactly what it seems. You can't buy land in Israel. You can only lease it from the Israel Lands Authority for like 99 years. And it's probably going to be another 20 years before people start taking the problem seriously. It'll be Israel's own Y2K bug. About 35,000 dunams around Caesarea were leased to the Rothschields for 200 years.
The only land that's actually owned by anyone other than the government is stuff owned by churches and others from before the state came into being. About 7% of the land in Israel is owned privately. The rest, the government refuses to release except very, very sparingly.
There's a section in the Zehut Party platform that talks about distributing government owned lands to the people. While the platform was still being worked on, I had suggested a "share" plan, where all the land would be divided among everyone, and people would have the option to redeem it for cash or keep it as an investment. It wasn't included in the platform because it was too far off to worry about just yet.
I lived in Alaska before the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) was established -- 72-74 -- and since -- 09-12, and it is recognized as one of the best-managed sovereign wealth funds in the world. The yearly dividend varies, and in recent years has paid (per individual) as little as ~$850 to as much as $2000+. Let me stress that the dividends are paid *per-individual*, NOT per-family. For traditionally large Muslim families, this could/would be a sizable amount. It would be interesting if Israel considered implementing such a plan for the rest of us.
If this proposal is implemented, I'd hope that Israeli citizens would insist on it.
It would be appropriate in other areas as well. During the Zehut Party campaign, one of the planks in the platform was for the government to sell off the 93% of land it owns in the country. I believe that sale of public lands should work this way as well, with the proceeds being distributed to the citizens of Israel, who are, after all, the owners of the state and of the land.
Re: Sale of public lands... proceeds being distributed.
There's recently been quite a furor, here in the US, over land sales [large] to foreigners... especially, but not limited, to mainland-Chinese buyers. Israel has a similar problem -- historically so -- with foreign buyers... of housing (single and/or multiple units); "foreigners", i.e., Israelis de jure, but not de facto, many of whom only come to Israel for "the holidays" (Rosh HaShana-Sukkot and Pesach), and either leave the apartments empty (of dwellers) or make them available for short-term (tourist) rentals during the rest of the year.
So the question is two-fold: Who can purchase "public lands", and to whom should the profits be distributed?
I mean, you're right that it's a problem. But it's not exactly what it seems. You can't buy land in Israel. You can only lease it from the Israel Lands Authority for like 99 years. And it's probably going to be another 20 years before people start taking the problem seriously. It'll be Israel's own Y2K bug. About 35,000 dunams around Caesarea were leased to the Rothschields for 200 years.
The only land that's actually owned by anyone other than the government is stuff owned by churches and others from before the state came into being. About 7% of the land in Israel is owned privately. The rest, the government refuses to release except very, very sparingly.
There's a section in the Zehut Party platform that talks about distributing government owned lands to the people. While the platform was still being worked on, I had suggested a "share" plan, where all the land would be divided among everyone, and people would have the option to redeem it for cash or keep it as an investment. It wasn't included in the platform because it was too far off to worry about just yet.