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At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting earlier this week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed plans to sharply increase construction in Dimona as part of projects to develop the Negev.

In remarks to the media as the cabinet meeting was starting, Mr. Netanyahu said,

“We have just come from the Negev Conference. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri quoted an interesting fact there. He came several years ago, to this place in Dimona, with the then mayor, our friend, the late Gaby Lalouche. Gaby begged him to allocate money to demolish 3,000 empty and abandoned flats in Dimona. Not long ago we signed a roof agreement for 30,000 flats, which will triple the population of Dimona and bring the city population to 120,000. The multi-story towers are reaching to the sky. There are parks, squares and industrial zones. It is extraordinary, and it tells the whole story.

“We are committed to developing the Negev. We are doing things that no government has done. We are investing here, in the entire country, tens of millions of shekels that will, in the end, reach billions, in order to advance this development and continue it with full vigor. Whoever travels along the highways or goes about here on the streets sees the change which is at its peak.

“Today we will be briefed by the Periphery Minister on the working plans to advance the south. I must say immediately that it is our intention to cancel the periphery. First of all we will bring it closer and then we will cancel it and because of this we are here. We are moving the Galil and the Negev closer to the center and we are bringing the center closer to the north and the south.

“For this work we are allocating great resources in health, social welfare, employment, transportation, housing and additional areas. Dimona is important to us. The Negev is important to us. We will make additional decisions to spur this great momentum. I think that there is also social justice here.

“We all saw the shocking movie about what happened here in the 1950s. We will open all this material and make it accessible to all Israelis, but the heritage must be known and above all one needs to know the future. We are delineating the future here and we are marching toward it with certainty…”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)