Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement on Sunday night denying earlier reports that government funding for development areas would no longer be given to Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria.  Funding to Judea and Samaria towns will continue to be one third of the NIS 100 million annual budget, they said.

Rumors that Judea and Samaria funding would be cut began when it was revealed that Minister of Agriculture Shalom Simchon was to take control of the government body in charge of Jewish settlement.  Officials denied that the transfer had any political significance, saying it was only an issue of providing better supervision for government funds.