Thousands of Housing Units Planned for Arab Sector

A special department of the Housing Ministry has been created for the purpose of spearheading a major overhaul of Arab housing, to include thousands of new homes, The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.

“In the coming years, thousands of housing units will be built in the Arab sector. A special section [in the Construction Ministry] has been established to implement projects in minority communities,” Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu) said during a tour of the Galil with Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh.

Over a billion shekels has been earmarked for building and marketing housing and removing bureaucratic obstacles. The allocation is part of the recently agreed 10-15 billion package for housing, education, employment, infrastructure, welfare services and public transport in the Arab sector.

“Prosperity of the Arab sector is in the interest of Israeli society as a whole,” Galant said Tuesday.

Imad Dahle, the head of the northern municipality of Turan, said his meeting with Galant went well and that construction of 1,000 units there is scheduled to be completed in a month.

Dahle said the plans call for doubling the village’s size by adding another 2,500 private homes. Currently, Turan, a majority Muslim village with a 15 percent Christian population, has 14,000 residents and 3,000 housing units.