Building Quietly on the Golan
Settlement Report | Vol. 6 No. 5 | September-October 1996- News
- Netanyahu Government Highlights Settlement Program
- Sharon Emerges as Key Player in Likud Settlement Policy
- To Our Readers
- Building Quietly on the Golan
- Palestinians Condemn Netanyahu's Settlement Actions
- Mubarak and Clinton Address Settlements
- Netanyahu Aims to Match Labor Settlement Record
- Back Panel Quote
"Quietly, quietly," begins an August 13 article in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharanot,
"without media scrutiny, 130 families have moved to the Golan Heights
in the last three months. Thirty more families will have moved before
the end of August. Why of all times now?"
Today, some 15,000 Israelis live in 32 settlement communities established in the wake of Israel's 1967 capture of the Golan Heights. Yehuda Wallman, head of the Golan regional council, estimates an increase of 1,000 during the next year. These newcomers will purchase apartments built during the tenure of the Rabin-Peres government. Two thousand dwelling units are in various stages of construction.
In the months before Netanyahu's election, this picture was already changing. After the collapse of negotiations with Syria in February, Prime Minister Shimon Peres ordered the sale of many of these apartments and made building plots available for private construction. By this time, the final 700 units built during the last three years at Katzrin, the largest settlement, had already been sold. Katzrin's population grew by 50 percent during this period from 4,000 to 6,000. A full 20 percent of the town residents have arrived in the last year. Planning and site work for 1,000 additional units is now under way. One hundred fifteen new units for the Eliad settlement were approved in April. And, in May, the Golan Regional Council began a drive to sell 250 units scattered throughout the area's 32 settlements.
"Demand has increased tremendously," said Uri Meir, head of the Company for Golan Development, two months before Peres' defeat, "and every free apartment is being snapped up."
The election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only increased the momentum.
"It is clear to us that Netanyahu has frozen the matter of peace with Syria, at least as it concerns evacuation of the Golan Heights, so there is no reason not to live here," explained Anat Shapira, who recently moved with her husband from the posh Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya. "We've worked hard all our lives. Now we rented our house and bought a house in Katzrin at a ridiculous price--half a dunam for $55,000. Here you have quality of life, here the air is terrific, so why not populate the Golan?"
Even as it raised the prospect of withdrawal from the area, the Rabin-Peres government compiled an unchallenged record of investing millions in the Golan Heights--building and selling hundreds of dwelling units. Funds were principally spent, however, in development projects in tourism, industry, and agriculture. The government invested in the Golan as if there were no Assad and conducted negotiations as if there were no investments.
During 1995, the government invested $30 million in infrastructure development alone. The 1996 budget totals almost $50 million. Investment in tourism projects alone will total more than $2 million in 1996. Income from industry, tourism, and agriculture in the Golan, according to the Company for Golan Development, grew from $300 million in 1994 to $360 million in 1995. Among the most prominent projects now under way are a $130 million tourism and hotel project at Hamat Gader (El Hama), claimed by both Syria and the Palestinian Authority; a deal between McDonalds and the kibutz settlement of Merom Golan to grow potatoes for the company's french fries on 300 dunams; and at the settlement of Ortal, a $4.5 million dairy, the largest in the Middle East.
Netanyahu's election has changed the context in which Israelis evaluate the prospects of a life on the Golan. Since Likud's victory, housing prices have appreciated by 50 percent in some settlements. Even so, on July 9, Office Depot, a U.S. company, pulled out of a manufacturing joint venture on the Golan Heights because of the Golan's uncertain future. This action appears to be the exception rather then the rule, however.
"Today the future seems a bit brighter than in the past," said Wallman, "and so many families from different areas of the country are moving north. Housing prices are comfortable, with mortgages amounting to 85 percent of the property value, so you are speaking about a good deal."
At meetings with Golan settlers, Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to increase Katzrin's population to 15,000 during his tenure. He also announced his approval of their "Golan 2000" plan presented to him before the election. The plan calls for a $202 million public sector investment in infrastructure and new housing construction in 10 settlements to reach the goal of increasing the plateau's Israeli population by 10,000 during the next four years.
"We will work to strengthen settlements," said Netanyahu. "We will expedite the development of roads and invest in infrastructure in order to produce suitable conditions for investors to invest on the Golan."
Today, some 15,000 Israelis live in 32 settlement communities established in the wake of Israel's 1967 capture of the Golan Heights. Yehuda Wallman, head of the Golan regional council, estimates an increase of 1,000 during the next year. These newcomers will purchase apartments built during the tenure of the Rabin-Peres government. Two thousand dwelling units are in various stages of construction.
In the months before Netanyahu's election, this picture was already changing. After the collapse of negotiations with Syria in February, Prime Minister Shimon Peres ordered the sale of many of these apartments and made building plots available for private construction. By this time, the final 700 units built during the last three years at Katzrin, the largest settlement, had already been sold. Katzrin's population grew by 50 percent during this period from 4,000 to 6,000. A full 20 percent of the town residents have arrived in the last year. Planning and site work for 1,000 additional units is now under way. One hundred fifteen new units for the Eliad settlement were approved in April. And, in May, the Golan Regional Council began a drive to sell 250 units scattered throughout the area's 32 settlements.
"Demand has increased tremendously," said Uri Meir, head of the Company for Golan Development, two months before Peres' defeat, "and every free apartment is being snapped up."
The election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only increased the momentum.
"It is clear to us that Netanyahu has frozen the matter of peace with Syria, at least as it concerns evacuation of the Golan Heights, so there is no reason not to live here," explained Anat Shapira, who recently moved with her husband from the posh Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya. "We've worked hard all our lives. Now we rented our house and bought a house in Katzrin at a ridiculous price--half a dunam for $55,000. Here you have quality of life, here the air is terrific, so why not populate the Golan?"
Even as it raised the prospect of withdrawal from the area, the Rabin-Peres government compiled an unchallenged record of investing millions in the Golan Heights--building and selling hundreds of dwelling units. Funds were principally spent, however, in development projects in tourism, industry, and agriculture. The government invested in the Golan as if there were no Assad and conducted negotiations as if there were no investments.
During 1995, the government invested $30 million in infrastructure development alone. The 1996 budget totals almost $50 million. Investment in tourism projects alone will total more than $2 million in 1996. Income from industry, tourism, and agriculture in the Golan, according to the Company for Golan Development, grew from $300 million in 1994 to $360 million in 1995. Among the most prominent projects now under way are a $130 million tourism and hotel project at Hamat Gader (El Hama), claimed by both Syria and the Palestinian Authority; a deal between McDonalds and the kibutz settlement of Merom Golan to grow potatoes for the company's french fries on 300 dunams; and at the settlement of Ortal, a $4.5 million dairy, the largest in the Middle East.
Netanyahu's election has changed the context in which Israelis evaluate the prospects of a life on the Golan. Since Likud's victory, housing prices have appreciated by 50 percent in some settlements. Even so, on July 9, Office Depot, a U.S. company, pulled out of a manufacturing joint venture on the Golan Heights because of the Golan's uncertain future. This action appears to be the exception rather then the rule, however.
"Today the future seems a bit brighter than in the past," said Wallman, "and so many families from different areas of the country are moving north. Housing prices are comfortable, with mortgages amounting to 85 percent of the property value, so you are speaking about a good deal."
At meetings with Golan settlers, Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to increase Katzrin's population to 15,000 during his tenure. He also announced his approval of their "Golan 2000" plan presented to him before the election. The plan calls for a $202 million public sector investment in infrastructure and new housing construction in 10 settlements to reach the goal of increasing the plateau's Israeli population by 10,000 during the next four years.
"We will work to strengthen settlements," said Netanyahu. "We will expedite the development of roads and invest in infrastructure in order to produce suitable conditions for investors to invest on the Golan."
