Israel approves 1 billion shekel Golan Heights development plan

(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday the approval of a 1 billion shekel ($317.3 million) program to develop and settle the Golan Heights.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet session, held in Kibbutz Mevo Hama in the southern Golan, Bennett said that the government’s goal was to double the Golan’s population, according to an official statement. The current population is approximately 50,000.

To achieve this goal, the government plans to build two new neighborhoods in Katzrin, the unofficial capital of the Golan, and also to establish two new communities, Asif and Matar....