The cabinet today approved a proposal by Minister of Construction and Housing Yoav Galant to establish five new communities in the Negev. The new communities will be Shelah, between Ashelim and the Nitzana salient; Naveh Gurion, between Revivim and Kfar Retamim; Daniel, bordering the regional educational campus and the Aleh Negev rehabilitation village; a community adjacent to the Eshel Hanasi Merhavim regional education center; and Dia, a community near Highway 80.
The resolution does not mean that tractors will begin turning up earth for the communities tomorrow; a decision in principle has been taken, to be followed by feasibility studies and planning.
"On this day, we are letting Israelis know that we are establishing five new communities in the Negev. This is not a routine event," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today following the cabinet resolution. "Our vision is coming true - massive government infrastructure together with business. They must be built quickly with shortened procedures. The success of these communities requires high growth, and we have therefore created growth engines, headed by cyber."
Galant welcomed the cabinet decision to approve his proposal, saying today, "The founding of five communities is essential to strengthening our grip on nationally important lightly populated territories in the Negev. In addition to building new communities, we will continue to strengthen the old ones, while increasing the number of housing units on their borders, in order to strengthen the entire Negev, including all types of communities in it. The new communities will be built next to existing infrastructure in order to minimize the damage to the land and the environment. Our responsibility is to settle the Negev, bolster employment and tourism possibilities there, and make it a desirable and prosperous region in line with the Zionist vision."
Galant's proposal to establish the new communities attracted more than a little opposition before being brought to the cabinet today for approval. Opponents include the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority. Despite objections raised to the plan for five new communities by the Ministry of Finance budget department before the vote, Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon supported the proposal by Galant, a member of his own party.
Galant himself answered his critics at the end of last week with a post on Facebook. Among other things, he wrote, "The purpose of establishing the new communities is to promote the outlying areas and attract people to the Negev. We need to increase the supply of housing, among other things, given the relocation of IDF camps to the region. Moving the camps will be good for the Negev's economy, tourism, and communities, which as of now are far from realizing its potential… We are not weakening existing communities by founding new ones.
"Like everything else in life, in order to achieve holistic relations between old and new, a balance must be preserved. We are doing a great deal to strengthen the existing communities all over Israel, while at the same time, we must find solutions for all of the people's needs. The solution for some of these needs is to establish new communities… We intend to position Beer Sheva as a metropolis and a center for services and employment. At the same time, we are maintaining communities or building new ones from scratch in important places that are relatively unpopulated. The new communities will facilitate the continued growth of the regional councils that have already realized their settlement potential, and will also provide a solution for all those seeking to live in non-urban communities."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 22, 2015
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