Maalot Mayor and Chairman of the Forum of Council Heads, Shlomo Buchbout, said Wednesday that only 24 housing units were sold in the entire Galilee in 2007. He was speaking to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who met with the forum.

The lack of home sales "symbolizes the fact that people do not move to the periphery, because there are no perks," Buchbout explained.

Buchbout complained of an ongoing series of cuts in the special benefits enjoyed by residents of the North, which culminated in the scaling down of tax perks for the residents.