The new community, to be called Ramat Arbel, ‘is located on the site of a settlement from the Second Temple period,’ prime minister says.
By Pesach Benson, TPS
The Israeli government approved the establishment of a new community of 500 homes in the Lower Galilee, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at the beginning of Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting.
The new community, to be called Ramat Arbel, “is located on the site of a settlement from the Second Temple period,” Netanyahu said. The Prime Minister referred to a Roman-era Rabbinic sage, Nitai the Arbelite, whose community “was at the foot of Mount Arbel” during the second century.
During a visit to the site on Thursday, Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf vowed to see the plans approved by the National Council for Planning and Construction.
“Beyond increasing supply and lowering housing prices, this has important news for strengthening Jewish settlement in the Galilee,” Goldknopf said.
Ramat Arbel is located on privately-owned Jewish land. The community received Cabinet approval back in 2003 but development was bogged down by legal issues.
Mount Arbel is a popular hiking spot, featuring an ancient cave fortress and a view of the Sea of Galilee from the top.
The Prime Minister’s remarks also addressed the Education Ministry’s goals for the coming school year, and an initiative to promote construction and other improvements for Israel’s Druze and and Circassian communities.
Around 150,000 Druze live in Israel, primarily in the Golan, the Galilee and the Mt. Carmel area around Haifa. Israel’s 5,000 Circassians live in the Galilee towns of Kfar Kana and Rehaniya.