Dividing the Periphery: The First Decade of Jurisdictional Delineation Between Development Towns and Regional Councils in The State of Israel

The distribution of land in peripheral areas during Israel’s first decade stemmed, it is generally held, from the discriminatory practices of Mapai, then the country’s dominant political party, against Mizrahi Jews. The present article seeks to shed light on hitherto unexamined aspects of jurisdictional delineation, with a focus on the balance of power between Ofakim and the Merhavim Regional Council, and the circumstances, considerations and ramifications of the decisions taken by Israel’s Ministry of Interior. Although the circumstances which led the Ministry to adopt its decisions entailed geographical segregation that led to potential economic inequality, the decisions themselves were not, as revealed by archival material, purposely discriminatory, at least not on ethnic grounds, and the economic inequality was not an inevitable result of those decisions.