Israeli Official Halts Islamic Movement's Civil Land Takeover in Galilee
An Israeli government official detailed efforts to stop the Islamic Movement's strategic civilian takeover of land in the Galilee region. This campaign, described as "Rabat," involves expanding Arab towns through planning mechanisms rather than violence, gradually encroaching on tens of thousands of dunams and isolating Jewish communities. The official highlighted the role of Professor Rasem Hmaisi, a political bureau member of the Islamic Movement, who helped shape planning policies favoring Arab expansion for over 20 years, including authoring parts of the national master plan (TAMA 35) that altered planning rules to allow disproportionate land allocations to Arab localities under the guise of "corrective discrimination."
The official exposed a planning method invented by Hmaisi that calculates land needs for Arab towns based on expected utilization percentages rather than actual population growth, inflating land allocations up to five times. To counter this, the official successfully inserted a clause into a government decision mandating all planning bodies to use population growth forecasts from the Central Bureau of Statistics through 2065 for minority sectors. This directive effectively stopped further excessive land transfers to Arab authorities in the Galilee.
Despite this success, the official acknowledged much work remains, including reversing prior approvals that transferred 70,000 dunams unnecessarily and expanding Jewish towns constrained by restrictive planning rules requiring "infill" development before outward growth. New principles are being incorporated into updated master plans to finally allow Jewish communities in the Galilee and Negev to expand their boundaries.
The official framed these planning reforms as part of a broader national effort to understand and correct harmful policies, invoking a traditional Jewish teaching about learning from others' mistakes. The message concluded with a hopeful note for continued progress and national unity in addressing these challenges.
