In their Rosh Hashana supplement, Ha’aretz had a whole section devoted to the costs of the settlement project. This material was only recently released in English. There is so much good material there. But this article on the civilian costs of the settlements is worth a read.
“Since the beginning of the settlements in the West Bank, Israel has carried out a vigorous and systematic policy aimed at encouraging Israeli citizens to move to the settlements….One of the main tools serving this policy is the granting of benefits and significant financial incentives to settlers. There are two types of incentives – those provided directly to the citizen by defining the settlements as `national priority areas,’ and those provided to local authorities in the West Bank under preferred conditions in comparison with localities within Israel.”
All in all the numbers are staggering. Adding up the civilian costs, the military costs and the opportunity costs we are talking about an investment of hundreds of billions of shekels, tens of billions of dollars. The sheer magnitude of this megalomaniac project is breathtaking. And it never could have happened without the massive US aid to Israel. Think of how much good this money could have accomplished. I say without exaggeration that this will go down in history as the most shameful act the Jewish people ever participated in.