Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the government has approved the development of a group of towns in the Negev, one of which will be named after slain Gaza hostage St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili.
In the Sunday announcement, the prime minister said that one of the towns will be named Ranenim "after Israel’s hero, the late Ran Gvili, whom we are, at this very moment, making an enormous effort to bring back."
Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz and National Missions Minister Orit Strock announced the development with Netanyahu at a Sunday cabinet meeting.
"This is a monumental settlement announcement: Five towns in the eastern area of the Beersheba metropolitan area," Netanyahu said during the cabinet meeting.
"We said that we would not only act for settlement, but we would also act to restore law and order to the South. We are not relenting on this; it is a fundamental part of the profound change we must make in the southern part of the country."
"There will be no 'Wild West' here," Netanyahu went on. "We have allocated resources for this, involved the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and we will continue to do much more."
"This is part of a grand vision that also includes organizing for the Arab residents and citizens in the Negev; they, too, deserve all the fruits of this labour, and it will be done through an integrated plan. But today, we are delivering news of a great community settlement breakthrough."
Society for the Protection of Nature rejects new settlement
The Society for the Protection of Nature addressed the government's new project by assuring that it must "stop prioritizing new settlements over the existing ones."
According to their statement, "from an environmental, scenic, ecological, social, and economic perspective, the government must prioritize the densification of current settlements."
"The state must strengthen the existing settlements in the area and not invest efforts in plans that not only do not contribute to strengthening the area, but will only cause harm to open areas, nature, the landscape, and burden the existing infrastructure," they said in a statement.