The Ministry of Interior announced today (Sunday) that it has issued official locality designations to eight additional communities, a step marking the final confirmation of their status as fully regulated communities within the State of Israel.
This move follows the allocation of 25 locality designations granted recently, bringing the total number of communities formalized over the past four months to 33.
The new designation grants administrative and budgetary independence to several strategic locations.
In the Binyamin Regional Council area, the newly recognized communities include Kanfey Shahar and Mitzpe Ziv. In addition, the long-established community of Alon is receiving an independent designation after more than 30 years of being administratively considered part of Kfar Adumim.
In the Samaria Regional Council, the community of Lehi (Havat Yair) - of the “young communities" movement - has been fully regularized. Designations were also granted to Ganim and Kadim, which were evacuated about 20 years ago during the 2005 Disengagement and are now being reestablished.
In the Jordan Valley and Mount Hebron areas, the communities of Brosh HaBik’a and Mitzpe Ziv also received the long-awaited designation.
A locality designation is far more than a symbolic step. It is a milestone that enables government ministries to provide basic services that residents previously lacked: direct connection to the water network of Mekorot, assignment of an official security coordinator (Ravshatz) and regulated security equipment, as well as services from the Israel Postal Company, along with structured education and welfare budgets.
The process was completed following extensive staff work by the Civil Administration and the Settlement Administration, and after Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth signed the jurisdiction boundaries of the communities about three weeks ago.
Finance Minister and Minister in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the move, saying: “Within about four months, we succeeded, with the help of G-d, in ensuring 33 locality designations as part of establishing new communities and regulating young communities. This is a tremendous achievement and the result of the work of many loyal partners. The communities in Judea and Samaria continue to grow and flourish with full strength, and the return to Ganim and Kadim, together with Homesh and Sa-Nur, represents an important and emotional stage in correcting the injustice of the disengagement."
Smotrich added the strategic goal behind the regularization process: “We are advancing de facto sovereignty on the ground in order to prevent any possibility of establishing an Arab state in Judea and Samaria. I thank the Ministry of Interior, the Central Command chief, the Civil Administration, and the Settlement Administration for leading these steps."