The Jewish community of Carmel, located south of Kiryat Arba-Hevron in the southern Hevron Hills, is dedicating its new 10-family neighborhood Tuesday. The left-wing Peace Now group has charged Carmel with causing "irreversible damage" in the talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) for a new Arab state. Carmel is located in an area from which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to expel all Jewish residents, and then give to the PA.
Residents of the religious community said that the only thing lacking in their new houses is a garden, due to Shemittah laws prohibiting planting in the Sabbatical year.