ABSTRACT
The system of social welfare services in Israel is a complex, branching, tangled network comprising the entirety of social and personal services provided through public and private entities. One of the outstanding contradictions in the area of welfare policy in Israel concerns the legal basis for such policy. The central instrument through which social welfare programs in Israel are implemented is the Mossad L’Bituah Leumi. The Arab population of Israel was never considered as a “different” category from the other segments of the population, not in law and not in the form of organization of welfare services. Social welfare services planning and policy-making is decided by the government at the national level. The principal welfare institutions in the country are governmental. The contribution of voluntary organizations to the field of social welfare has been and remains a very significant one, despite the central role of the government in the fields of health, education, and aid to distressed populations.
