Alwaght- Israeli officials plan to rubber-stamp the construction of ten new settlements in the desert Negev region at a cabinet meeting next Sunday, and the decision comes days after a Palestinian man was fatally shot over an alleged stabbing attack near a shopping center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Israeli interior minister Ayelet Shaked and housing minister Zeev Elkin said five Jewish towns would be built near the city of Arad, and another five close to the road that connects Beersheba to the city of Dimona.
“This historic and exciting decision has strategic … importance in strengthening the settlement of the Negev. Creating ten new communities is Zionism in all its glory,” Shaked said.
Elkin also asserted that the building scheme would strengthen the economy in the Negev, known as the Naqab in Arabic, making it more desirable for Israeli families to move and live there.
Earlier this month, Shaked and Elkin had also announced the building of two towns in the Negev.
A Jewish village named Kasif will be built within a few months in the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Kasifa and the Palestinian-majority town of Tel Arad. It is said to house between 100,000 and 125,000 people.
