Israel Approves New Jewish Community in the Lower Galilee

The government today (Sunday) approved the establishment of a new community settlement in the Lower Galilee called Shibolet. It is the first Jewish community to be established in the Galilee in decades, following a planning process that lasted nearly two decades.

As part of the decision, a budget of 10 million shekels was approved to build a temporary camp for the founding group. In the coming weeks, the settlement’s first pioneer neighborhood is expected to break ground, with the temporary camp funded by the approved budget serving the founding group until permanent construction is completed.

The community is planned to include about 350 housing units, around 70 of them designated for people with disabilities and their families. Alongside the residential areas, therapeutic centers, community frameworks, and social initiatives are planned to bring together diverse populations within a single community. Shibolet will be the 19th community in the Lower Galilee Regional Council.

The project began in 2003, when the community — initially called "Beit Rimon B'" - was included in a plan to establish new communities in the Galilee. The plan drew objections from nearby communities that feared harm to their status, as well as from environmental organizations concerned about damage to open spaces and the landscape. 

In 2015, a plan was approved to establish a community combining a typical population alongside people with special needs. In 2018, the Housing Cabinet approved the community as one adjacent to Beit Rimon, and last year the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced that its establishment had been approved. The approval granted today is the decisive step that makes actual implementation possible.

Minister Orit Strock, who led the decision, said this was "major news for the Galilee. Zionist, social, and settlement-related news. At a time when our enemies are firing at the Galilee, alongside the security and defensive activity, the best possible response is settlement." Strock added that "the enormous scale of hundreds of families who have registered to join the new community shows its importance, and we intend to establish more and more communities like this."

Lower Galilee Regional Council head Nitzan Peleg also welcomed the decision: "After 35 years of drought in the Galilee, this is significant news for the region and for the State of Israel." Peleg described Shibolet as "a one-of-a-kind community settlement in the world, one that will combine residents with and without disabilities and present a model of community, equality, and mutual responsibility."