The Settlement Division held a centralized in-service training day to review the Division’s operations during the ‘Iron Swords’ war. During the course of the seminar, the professional teams shared their personal stories from October 7, along with residents from northern and southern Israel as well as IDF reservist combatants. Vered Libstein, widow of Ofir Libstein, former head of the Eshkol Regional Council and a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, recounted her family’s experiences on that day. The Minister for Settlement, Orit Struk and the Chairman of the WZO delivered a keynote during the course of the program.
Children from Kibbutz Kfar Aza started the school year at five new kindergartens in Kibbutz Ruhama, all of which were built by the Settlement Division. The residents of Kfar Aza are being housed temporarily at the kibbutz until they can all return to their own homes.
Over the course of the past few weeks, the Division has begun the transport of prefab buildings to the new town of Ovot, as part of its urban and rural development program for the Arava region. The first building due to be laid on site will house the ‘Derech Lotan’ (Lotan’s Way) Pre-Military Academy, which has been designated as one of the significant factors driving growth in this area.
In the coming years, there are plans to develop several new communities in the Negev and Arava regions. The Israel government has established a committee with a remit incorporating all the garinim (founder groups) for the communities, which will provide an umbrella framework connecting the respective groups associated with the various locations. Last week, the committee conducted an initial tour of the Mevo’ot Arad region, where the Division is working to establish four new communities.
The Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Head of the Settlement Division traveled to northern Israel on a fact-finding tour, where the Division presented its programs for the region to the heads of the local authority, including the mayor of Metullah, the heads of Regional Councils for the Upper Galilee, Mevo’ot Hermon, Mateh Asher and Ma’aleh Yosef. The Director General of the Division, the Division’s Northern Region Director and the regional team, who organized the mission on wheels, also participated in the program.
The World Zionist Organization Settlement Division organized a fact-finding tour of Israel’s south-western border region for the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Head of the Settlement Division and the Division’s Southern Region Director. The program included a visit to the new neighborhood in Kibbutz Revivim, built to provide temporary homes for members of Kibbutz Hulit, who became refugees in their own country when they were evacuated after the October 7 atrocities. The team also held a meeting with the head of the Eshkol Regional Council, Gadi Yarkoni, where they discussed the multiple challenges facing local residents.
Be’eri residents have now taken up residence in the temporary neighborhood constructed for them by the Division within the Hatzerim community, with hundreds of families from Kibbutz Beeri moving into their new temporary homes on the kibbutz over the past few weeks. In addition to private housing, the Division has also put up a number of public buildings for use by the new residents.
The Settlement Division has built a new recreation park for the residents of Hamadiyah in the valley area. The kibbutz community director expressed their thanks to the team at the Division, which advocated unwaveringly for the project on behalf of the community, despite the financial difficulties it presented and the problematic topography of the area.
A new project was recently approved as part of the Division’s northern region’s long-term projects, designed to encourage medical personnel and psychologists to relocate to communities in the North under the umbrella of the Division’s new, temporary accommodation framework, currently being established for rural communities around Israel. The program offers applicants accommodation subsidies for a period ranging from five to ten years. The housing estates will be built by the Settlement Division in cooperation with Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-JNF.
The Jordan Valley region is spacious and in need of new blood to expand its population. Alongside improved transport and accessibility solutions, the Division is working on a wide range of development plans to bring new residents into the Valley. In recent weeks, the Settlement Division has completed the building program for a new neighborhood in the Brosh community in the Bik’ah. The village recently opened the new school year, with their numbers augmented by the arrival of seven new families.
The Settlement Division and the Ministry of Community Affairs jointly convened a professional symposium at Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar in northern Israel, attended by dozens of local authority and community council leaders from the region. The Settlement Division has been allocated a one-time budget of 20,000,000 shekels to develop community resilience for northern communities on the confrontation line. Participants came to discuss the various issues with which the towns and villages in the North are currently contending and how the Division can help them address these challenges successfully at the community level. Gael Grunewald, the Settlement Division Chairman, was one of the speakers at the Conference.
The Settlement Division of The World Zionist Organization and the Tekuma Authority have transferred keys for 36 temporary apartments in Revivim to some of the families evacuated from Kibbutz Holit in the Gaza border region. A similar process is underway in other kibbutzim hosting evacuees from Israel’s south-western border communities.
The Division is currently working closely with 55 communities from the Gaza border region evacuated from their homes, via 50 specialized therapists who are providing in-depth, support and building community resilience processes for communities in crisis.
The Division is also providing temporary housing for evacuated communities from the Gaza border region. The Kfar Aza community, currently hosted at Kibbutz Shefayim, has now relocated to the new neighborhood constructed by the Settlement Division. On Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek, a new neighborhood is under construction for evacuees from Kfar Aza. In recent weeks, the first consignment of mobile homes arrived on site for the neighborhood, following the completion of work on the underlying infrastructure.
The division's employees continue to work in assisting the settlements, analyzing the various needs that arise in the field and constantly working on mapping possible solutions for the south and the north. The division's management and chairman met with the heads of the evacuated settlements and with the heads of the host communities.
The World Zionist Organization, in coordination with the Settlement Division, is mapping the needs in the various settlements and is in contact with the local councils and leaders. An amount of NIS 4 million was approved for activities to strengthen community resilience and provide assistance for the residents and settlements in the Gaza Envelope.
A decision was made by the Civil Cabinet to establish an administration called Tkuma, which received the overall responsibility for the reconstruction surrounding Gaza. The World Zionist Organization and the Settlement Division will take an active part in managing Tkuma; the community aspect, housing and construction. The provision of assistance for community resilience to settlements is ongoing in cooperation with the "Mahut" organization which specializes in community rehabilitation and will provide a professional response under guidance. The division is accompanied by the councils and localities at a cost of about NIS 5 million.
The World Zionist Organization and the Settlement Division have an active team of engineers who started mapping the area in order to prepare an organized information base on the damage, provide solutions and assess the needs and the required cost for rebuilding.
Many buildings managed by the Settlement Division are in areas such as the Gaza Envelope which have have been destroyed, or its residents have been evacuated and the territory defined as a closed military area. Thus, the decision was made to freeze payments for these properties starting from October until further notice.
The Settlement Division has been operating since the outbreak of the war in order to shorten payment times to councils and suppliers. These efforts include easing some of the approvals and the routinely required documents with the understanding that the budget flow of the councils and suppliers is critical now.
Teams of the Settlement Division travel to visit the various communities throughout the country in order to embrace, support and learn the needs that arise in the field.
