Development town

Mitzpe Ramon development town, southern Israel, 1957

Development town (Hebrew: עיירת פיתוח‎, Ayarat Pitu'ah) is a term used to refer to the new settlements that were built in Israel 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 plan - the master plan of Israel. The majority of such towns were built in the Galilee in the north of Israel, and in the northern Negev desert in the south. In addition to the new towns, Jerusalem was also given development town status in the 1960s.^[1]

Background

Jewish exodus from Arab countries 1947-1972
Main articles
Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries 1948 Arab-Israeli War Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen) Operation Ezra and Nehemiah 1956 Expulsion of Egyptian Jews Immigrant camps  · Maabarot
Background
Nazi relations with the Arab world  · Farhud  · Tripoli (1945)  · Cairo (1945)  · Immigration during and after World War II Israeli Declaration of Independence  · Suez Crisis · Algerian War  · Six Day War
Key incidents
Aleppo (Syria) · Aden (Yemen) · Oujda and Jerada (Morocco) · Tripoli (Libya) · Baghdad (Iraq)
Arbitration
WOJAC · JIMENA · Babylonian Jewry Heritage · JJAC · The David Project
Resettlement
Aliyah  · Law of Return  · Development towns  · North African Jewry in France
Related topics
Jewish history · Jewish diaspora · History under Muslim rule Mizrahi Jews · Sephardi Jews · Arab Jews
v · d · e

Main articles: Maabarot and Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries

Ma'abara near Nahariya (northern Israel), 1952.

The sudden arrival of over 130,000 Iraqi Jews in Israel in the early 1950s meant that almost a third of Ma'abarah 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.^[2] 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 and North Africa. The number of people housed in Ma'abarot began to decline in 1952, and the last Ma'abarot were closed sometime around 1963.^[2] 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, Sderot, Beit She'an, Yokneam, Or Yehuda 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 - Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Tunisia. 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

In 1984, the Development Towns project was awarded the Israel Prize for its special contribution to society and the State of Israel.^[5]

During the 1990s

Aliyah to Israel and settlement
Pre-Zionist Aliyah
The Return to Zion Old Yishuv
Before May 14, 1948
First Aliyah · Second Aliyah During World War I Third Aliyah · Fourth Aliyah Fifth Aliyah During and after World War II Bricha
After May 14, 1948
Operation Magic Carpet Operation Ezra and Nehemiah 1968 Polish aliyah 1970s Soviet Union aliyah Aliyah from Ethiopia 1990s CIS aliyah 2000s Latin America aliyah
Concepts
Judaism · Zionism Jewish homeland Jewish messianism Law of Return Galut · Yerida
Persons and organizations
Theodor Herzl · Knesset El Al · Nefesh B'Nefesh World Zionist Organization
Related topics
History of Israel History of Zionism Israeli Jews Jewish diaspora Jewish history Jews in the Land of Israel Religious Zionism Revival of the Hebrew language · Yishuv
v · d · e

Many towns gained a new influx of residents during the mass immigration from former Soviet states in the early 1990s.^[6]

List of development towns

Center Beit Shemesh Or Yehuda Yavne

Galilee Beit She'an Karmiel Hatzor HaGlilit Kiryat Shmona Migdal HaEmek Nazareth Illit Shlomi Yokneam

Negev Arad Dimona Kiryat Gat Kiryat Malakhi Mitzpe Ramon Netivot Ofakim Sderot Yeroham

See also

• 11 points in the Negev
• List of Israel Prize recipients

References

1. ^ Teddy Kollek and his life-long dedication Jerusalem Post, 2 January 2007
2. ^ ^{a b} (Hebrew) Ma'abarot by Miriam Kachenski, Israeli Center for Educational Technology
3. ^ We're not Kach , but we love Kahane Haaretz
4. ^ Full On Location: The deep south Jerusalem Post, 27 December 2007
5. ^ "Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1984 (in Hebrew)". http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashmag/Tashnab_Tashmag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashmad. 
6. ^ Israel's battered economy BBC News, 21 June 2002