Development town
Encyclopedia
Development town is a term used to refer to the new settlements that were built in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing to a large influx of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Holocaust survivors from Europe and new immigrants (Olim), who arrived to the newly established State of Israel. The towns were designated to expand the population of the country's peripheral areas and to ease development pressure on the country's crowded centre. The towns are the results of the Sharon
Arieh Sharon
Arieh Sharon was an Israeli architect and winner of the Israel Prize for Architecture in 1962—the first in this discipline. Sharon was a critical contributor to the early architecture in Israel and the leader of the first master plan of the young state, reporting to then Prime Minister, David...

 plan - the master plan of Israel. The majority of such towns were built in the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

 in the north of Israel, and in the northern Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

 desert in the south. In addition to the new towns, Jerusalem was also given development town status in the 1960s.

Background

The sudden arrival of over 130,000 Iraqi Jews in Israel in the early 1950s meant that almost a third of Ma'abarah
Maabarot
Ma'abarot is a kibbutz in Israel. Founded in 1932, today it has a population of approximately 850 people, and is under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council.-Beginnings :...

 dwellers were of Iraqi Jewish origin. At the end of 1949 there had been 90,000 Jews housed in Ma'abarot; by the end of 1951 this population rose to over 220,000 people, in about 125 separate communities. Ma'abarot residents were housed in tents or in temporary tin dwellings. Over 80% of the residents were Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries of Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

. The number of people housed in Ma'abarot began to decline in 1952, and the last Ma'abarot were closed sometime around 1963. Over time, the Ma'abarot metamorphosed into Israeli towns, or were absorbed as neighbourhoods of the towns they were attached to, and residents were provided with permanent housing. Most of the Ma'abarah camps tranformed into development towns. Ma'abarot, which became development towns, include Kiryat Shmona
Kiryat Shmona
Kiryat Shmona is a city located in the North District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley on the Lebanese border. The city was named for the eight people, including Joseph Trumpeldor, who died in 1920 defending Tel Hai....

, Sderot
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...

, Beit She'an, Yokneam, Or Yehuda
Or Yehuda
Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....

 and Migdal HaEmek.

Establishment

The first development town was Beit Shemesh, founded in 1950 around 20km from Jerusalem. The newly established towns were mostly populated by Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries
Jewish exodus from Arab lands
The Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries was a mass departure, flight and expulsion of Jews, primarily of Sephardi and Mizrahi background, from Arab and Muslim countries, from 1948 until the early 1970s...

 - Morocco, Iraq
History of the Jews in Iraq
The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BCE. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities....

, Iran
Persian Jews
Persian Jews , are Jews historically associated with Iran, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources.Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran. The Book of Esther contains some references to the experiences of Jews in Persia...

, Egypt
History of the Jews in Egypt
Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest Jewish communities in the world. While no exact census exists, the Jewish population of Egypt was estimated at fewer than a hundred in 2004, down from between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1922. The historic core of the indigenous community...

, Libya
History of the Jews in Libya
The history of the Jews in Libya stretches back to the 3rd century BCE, when Cyrenaica was under Greek rule. During World War II, Libya's Jewish population was subjected to anti-Semitic laws by the Fascist Italian regime and deportations by German troops...

, Yemen
Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...

, Syria
Syrian Jews
Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern...

 and Tunisia
History of the Jews in Tunisia
The history of the Jews in Tunisia goes back to Roman times. Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia reached a peak of 110,000. From the 1950s, half this number left for Israel and the other half for France...

. Development towns were also populated by Holocaust survivors from Europe and Jewish immigrants, who chose to arrive to the newly established State of Israel.

Development town status

A high proportion of the population is religious or traditional, with a 2003 survey showing that 39% of residents would rather Israel be run more by halakhic law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

.

Despite businesses and industries being eligible for favorable tax treatment and other subsidies, with the exception of Arad, most of the towns (particularly those in the south) have fared poorly in the economic sense, and often feature amongst the poorest Jewish Areas in Israel.

In 1984, the Development Towns project was awarded the Israel Prize
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...

 for its special contribution to society and the State of Israel.

During the 1990s

Many towns gained a new influx of residents during the mass immigration from former Soviet states
Aliyah from the Commonwealth of Independent States in the 1990s
Russian Jewish immigration to Israel began en masse in the 1990s when the liberal government of Mikhail Gorbachev opened the borders of the USSR and allowed Jews to leave the country for Israel.-History:...

 in the early 1990s.

List of development towns

Center
  • Beit Shemesh
  • Or Yehuda
    Or Yehuda
    Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....

  • Yavne
    Yavne
    Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:...



Galilee
  • Beit She'an
  • Karmiel
    Karmiel
    Karmiel is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre...

  • Hatzor HaGlilit
  • Kiryat Shmona
    Kiryat Shmona
    Kiryat Shmona is a city located in the North District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley on the Lebanese border. The city was named for the eight people, including Joseph Trumpeldor, who died in 1920 defending Tel Hai....

  • Migdal HaEmek
  • Nazareth Illit
    Nazareth Illit
    Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later...

  • Shlomi
  • Yokneam


Negev
  • Arad
  • Dimona
    Dimona
    Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. Its population at the end of 2007 was 33,600.-History:...

  • Kiryat Gat
  • Kiryat Malakhi
  • Mitzpe Ramon
    Mitzpe Ramon
    Mitzpe Ramon is a town in the Negev desert of southern Israel. It is situated on the northern ridge at an elevation of 860 meters overlooking a sizable erosion cirque known as the Ramon Crater.-History:...

  • Netivot
    Netivot
    Netivot is a city in the Southern District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 26,700. It was founded in 1956 as a development town along with Sderot to the north, and Ofakim to the south...

  • Ofakim
  • Sderot
    Sderot
    Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...

  • Yeroham
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