The first 116 plots in the new Negev settlement of Carmit went on sale this
week, until the end of the month.
The settlement, located outside
Beersheba, is looking to attract families of Anglo olim as well as those born in
Israel. This year, 235 oneeighth- acre plots will be sold, and the eventual goal
is a settlement of more than 2,500 families.
The Construction and Housing
Ministry, the Israel Lands Authority and the Jewish National Fund, in
cooperation with the Jewish Agency and the Metar Regional Council, are aiming to
create a multifaceted new community with a heavy emphasis on encouraging young
Anglo immigrant families to settle in the Negev.
Construction of the
first neighborhood has already begun, with residents expected to move in by
2013.
Absorption to Carmit is being carried out through the Jewish
Agency, the Metar Regional Council and the OR Movement, a group involved in
promoting settlement in the Negev.
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six new communities in the Negev and Galilee – Sansana, Merhav Am, Mitzpe Ilan,
Haruv, Be’er Milka and Givot Bar – and created dozens of young core groups in
the periphery communities, according to a press statement.
Carmit is
located near the Yatir and Kramim Forests at the junction of Routes 60 and 31.
An IDF Intelligence Center is expected to be created nearby, and a planned
intersection for Route 6 is not far. Carmit will be 15 minutes from Beersheba
and an hour from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
“Marketing the plots for detached
houses in the new community of Carmit is the next step in increasing the supply
of land for residential purposes in the sought-after area of the northern
Negev,” Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias said in a
statement.
“The community offers identical standards to those in the
surrounding communities, such as Omer and Lehavim, and we hope that increasing
the supply of plots in the region is another stage on the road to reducing
housing costs,” he added.
Metar Regional Council head Avner Ben-Gera
stated that “like the veteran community of Metar, Carmit is leading the vision
of living in the Negev, excellence in education, quality of the environment, and
an involved and qualitative community.
This is another phase in
strengthening the Negev and making it bloom, and serves as a Zionist
realization, and a national objective of the first order.”
JNF chairman
Effie Stenzler remarked that his organization “maintains that the first priority
in Israel is the development of the Negev and Galilee, and that is why we have
joined forces in the establishment of Carmit. The goal for the establishment of
this community is to bring hundreds of new immigrant families, along with young
native Israelis from central Israel.”
Roni Flamer, CEO of the OR
Movement, concluded, “Finally, after six years of intense work, the moment to
realize the dream combining immigration, settling the land, and action by young
people in the Negev has arrived.”
The community’s website is
www.carmit.org.il.