Yoav Galant in southern Israel
Yoav Galant in southern IsraelSasson Tiram

Housing Minister Maj-Gen.(Res) Yoav Galant ordered work to commence on the Jewish town of Hiran. The future village is strategically placed near the southern city of Arad, with its location designed to prevent a chain of Arab villages from the South Hevron Hills to the Bedouin encampment in the Negev desert.

"Building a series of new Jewish villages in the best way to prevent the Bedouin takeover of the Negev" said Galant. "The new village of Hiran will return Israel's control over the area, and stop the chain of Palestinian villages from the South Hevron Hills to the Negev."

Construction on the new town has already begun, with a joint effort between the contractor, Israel Police, and the Housing Ministry.

Hiran is the first of 11 new Jewish villages that are to be established in the south, as part of 2011 government decision to reassert control over the Negev, where illegal Bedouin villages proliferate.

A police operation to destroy unauthorized buildings in the nearby illegal Bedouin town of Umm al-Hiran in January 2017 deteriorated into mass riots, during which an Israeli police officer and a Bedouin man were killed.

"Israel is a democratic state which offers equality to everyone, but with rights come responsibilities to obey the law" Galant said.

The decision comes one week after Dimona's Mayor Benny Biton (Likud) forced a council vote to gift 101.5 acres (411 dunams) of municipal land to the neighboring illegal Bedouin enclave of Qasr al-Sir.