New Israeli towns: Looking south | The Economist
►http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21583670-israeli-planners-want-switch-development-new-frontiers-looking-s
AFTER decades of building Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians see as the basis of their would-be state, Israel’s government may be moving its focus south. Long in a slump, construction in Israel’s southern desert, the Negev, is outpacing not only that of the West Bank settlements, but in central Israel as well. At a cost of $6 billion, Israel is transforming the wastes around Beersheba, on the edge of the Negev, and building new cities, including one that is the country’s largest such project. By 2020 Israel plans to boost its Negev population by 50% to 1m, almost twice the number of settlers now in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.