"In the Negev, the people of Israel and their state will be tested... This effort will determine the fate of the State of Israel and the status of our people in the history of the human race" (David Ben-Gurion, January 1955)
This quote accompanies every attempt to shape a vision regarding the Negev, a magnificent region that has been neglected by the country's leadership in recent decades.
Beyond being an exceptional leader with a historical perspective, Ben-Gurion was also gifted with strategic and security understanding.
In the same well-known speech, he painted an almost prophetic picture: "On the western-southern border of the Negev triangle stretches the Sinai desert, and on the eastern border - the Arabian desert. If the state does not eliminate the desert - the desert may eliminate the state. The narrow strip between Jaffa and Haifa, with a width of 15 - 25 km, which contains the great majority of the people in Israel, will not stand for many days without a large and fortified settlement in the southern and Negev regions.
In the vision of "the old man", the Negev was supposed to house at least 2 million Israelis today.
If there is any meaning to the phrase "enveloping Israel", which came to the world after the terrible massacre in the settlements of the Western Negev - it lies in the understanding of the importance of settlement in the region.
It is appropriate for the Israeli government to initiate the distribution of a dunam to every regular or reserve soldier who fought in the Iron Swords War.
as simple as that.
No sophisticated clauses, no admissions committees, no complicated bureaucracy and small print.
The same uncompromising motivation and efficiency that guided the government in its war for the preservation of the coalition funds, should star in a just and intelligent struggle for important goals on the social and economic level, but mainly the Zionist one:
1. Compensation, recognition and appreciation for fighters and the wounded.
2. Thickening and strengthening of settlement in the Negev and Galilee by young families.
3. Distributive justice and reducing social gaps.
4. Tens of thousands of construction starts, which will result in the creation of jobs and a significant boost to the local economy and the housing industry.
5. A clear message to our enemies: did you try to attack the Negev and the Galilee?
We get stronger and stronger in the exact same places.
It is important to understand the demographic background: in the last two decades, the growth rate of the Arab and Bedouin population in the Negev increased by 144%!
Almost four times the growth rate of the Jewish population in Beer Sheva during that period, which was 29%.
Quantitatively, the Arab population constitutes about 40% of the Negev population, and its growth rate is significantly significant.
Pay attention to the following figure: the buildings of the illegal diaspora in the Negev, where about 85 thousand Bedouin live (less than 1% of Israel's population), are scattered over an area whose total size is 600 thousand dunams.
Just to clarify, this is an area 11.5 times larger than the area of Tel Aviv, where about 460 thousand residents live.
The solution must be leadership and professional: a government decision, quick approval with the relevant government ministries, setting goals and schedules and immediate implementation.
No special committees or ceremonies
True, the dry numbers were there even before October 7, but it seems that now the majority of the Israeli public understands how critical a centralized and orderly settlement in the Negev and the Galilee is for our future.
In the Galilee, by the way, 450 thousand Arabs live, compared to about 65 thousand Jews.
In other words, less than 20% of the population of the Galilee is Jewish.
So what prevents the State of Israel, which owns 93% of the land (about 20 million dunams), to distribute a million dunams to the fighters who sacrificed their lives in defense of its independence?
Unfortunately, the answer consists of a lack of vision, but also bureaucratic obstacles and failures.
The solution must be leadership and professional: a government decision, quick approval with the relevant government ministries, setting goals and schedules and immediate implementation.
No special committees or ceremonies.
A simple calculation will show that the profit from such a measure - solving the housing problem plus mortgage benefits - far exceeds the costs of the war, reparations and grants.
The money is there, the question is how to channel it, and there is no just, correct and smart path than strengthening the Negev and the Galilee.
Were we wrong?
We will fix it!
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