New Zionist Planning Institute Seeks to Boost Settlement in Negev and Galilee
The Zionist Planning Institute launched in Israel to promote Jewish settlement, territorial contiguity, and demographic balance in the Negev and the Galilee regions.
The debate over the future of the Negev and the Galilee is taking center stage in discussions surrounding settlement, land policy, and national security. Alongside political initiatives—including targets for dozens of new communities—a professional body has emerged to influence planning policy itself: the "Zionist Planning Institute", launched recently at the initiative of the Israel Builders Association.
Behind the establishment of the institute lies the conviction that after decades in which almost no new Jewish communities were established in the Negev and the Galilee, alongside the emigration of young people from the periphery to Israel's center, a profound shift in planning policy is urgently required. The institute aims to strengthen Jewish settlement in both regions, create territorial contiguity, expand existing communities, and reinforce urban centers, while simultaneously promoting planning, housing, and infrastructure solutions for the Arab population as well.
Security and Demographic Imperatives
For the founders, the issue carries not only demographic weight but critical security implications. In a conversation with the press, Eran Rolls, chairman of the Israel Builders Association and one of the institute's founders, argued that a "Palestinian territorial contiguity currently exists between Gaza and Hebron". He contrasted this with the robust settlement momentum in Judea and Samaria, noting that the Negev and the Galilee have been left behind. A similar perspective was presented in the recent election platform unveiled by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the "Religious Zionism" party, which pledged to create settlement contiguity and cancel plans that generate Arab territorial contiguity.
According to data presented at the launch conference, the Jewish population in the heart of the Galilee stands at only about 16%, and the institute warns of similar demographic trends in the Negev. At the same time, they point to a growing challenge: young people raised in Kiryat Shmona, Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Nahariya, Beersheba, Dimona, Yeruham, and regional council localities often struggle to purchase land or apartments, find suitable employment, and remain in the places where they grew up.
Halting Negative Migration
Consequently, one of the institute's primary goals is to reverse negative migration trends. Options to be examined include granting priority to local residents, demobilized soldiers, reservists, and young families in land and housing allocations, expanding national priority areas, and providing economic incentives. Alongside these measures, the institute seeks to advance the establishment of dozens of new communities and the significant expansion of existing ones.
"I want to bring back the spirit of Ben-Gurion, to revive settlement and the development of the Galilee and the Negev through Jewish, high-quality, and pioneering force, and to establish new communities," Rolls stated during the conference. "We want to judaicize the Galilee and the Negev; we want to generate high-quality life there."
The launch conference, held earlier this month, brought together professionals from the public and private sectors, local authority heads, planners, architects, real estate experts, and former senior defense officials. Participants included Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization; Natan Elnatan, former chairman of the National Planning Headquarters; Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Toledano; and Hagi Raznik, former director-general of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and current head of the Riefman Institute, alongside Rolls.
Working Teams and Legislative Goals
During the conference, participants divided into specialized working teams. Separate groups will focus on the Negev and the Galilee, while another will address policy and legislation. Concurrently, plans are underway to train "Zionist Planning Ambassadors" and build a professional cadre of planners and jurists. According to Rolls, the objective is to prepare professionals who can integrate into planning committees, the Israel Land Authority (ILA), and local municipalities.
The Negev and Galilee teams intend to tackle planning bottlenecks, expand existing localities, and promote new ones. The policy team will examine legislative amendments, including the integration of national security considerations into planning processes and modifications to national policies that currently hinder the establishment of new communities.
The creation of the institute coincides with the migration of this topic from professional discourse directly into the political campaign arena. In late August, Smotrich presented the "Religious Zionism" party platform for the Negev and Galilee under the title "Yes. Judaicizing!". The plan sets a target of bringing one million additional Jews to the Negev and Galilee, establishing 40 new communities—20 in the Negev and 20 in the Galilee—setting up dozens of agricultural farms, and expanding existing towns. The party also announced that if it enters the next government, it will seek control over key land and planning tools, including the Planning Administration and the Israel Land Authority.
Statutory Foundations
Part of the legal infrastructure for promoting new communities has already shifted in recent months. In July, the Knesset approved in its second and third readings an amendment to the Local Councils Ordinance, a move dubbed by Minister Orit Strock as the "Strock Law". The amendment allows the Minister of the Interior, under prescribed conditions, to establish a municipal framework even for a locality that has not yet been populated, thereby removing a longstanding barrier that previously complicated the establishment of communities lacking a simple affiliation to an existing regional authority. For the Negev, this law holds special significance regarding the planned bloc of communities situated between the approaches of Arad and Route 25.
Indeed, as early as last November, it was reported that seven new communities planned between Beersheba and Arad are intended, among other goals, to establish Jewish territorial contiguity in the area. These include Dror, Yatir, Shalehavit, Irit, Marva, Havatselet HaNegev, and Tsabar, while additional communities continue to be advanced across the Negev.
Hagi Raznik, head of the Riefman Institute and one of the founders of the new body, noted that the initiative was born from work on a multidimensional plan for the Negev and the realization that, alongside the regularization of Bedouin settlement, there is an imperative to "renew the dimension of Zionist planning in the State of Israel and Jewish settlement". He emphasized that the challenges identified in the Negev closely mirror those in the Galilee and border regions, with the ultimate objective being to forge new tools for the national planning apparatus and progressively reform planning policy.
Institute representatives stress that they do not advocate halting development within the Arab sector. Rolls stated that the state must simultaneously advance master plans, housing, and infrastructure in Arab and Bedouin localities while addressing crime within Arab society. According to Rolls, the goal is to promote Jewish settlement alongside planning solutions for all populations, anchored in the principle that the state must maintain an active policy to preserve a Jewish majority in the Negev and the Galilee.
