Development town

Development towns were new settlements built in <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a> during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing for a large influx of <a href="/facts/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Muslim_countries/KFVzEtrE">Jewish immigrants from Arab countries</a>, <a href="/facts/Holocaust_survivors/lc9AMJaN">Holocaust survivors</a> from Europe and other new immigrants, who arrived to the newly established <a href="/facts/State_of_Israel/dEe3IcaY">State of Israel</a>. 
The towns were designed to expand the population of the country's peripheral areas while easing pressure on the crowded centre. Most of them were built in the <a href="/facts/Galilee/4qgALq4a">Galilee</a> in the north of Israel, and in the northern <a href="/facts/Negev/LFYIQtkY">Negev</a> desert in the south. In addition to the new towns, <a href="/facts/Jerusalem/PKJ8LT0Y">Jerusalem</a> was also given development town status in the 1960s.
In the context of the <a href="/facts/Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_conflict/2MYWXMWk">Arab–Israeli conflict</a>, <a href="/facts/Jewish_refugees/F18uRMjB">Jewish refugees</a> from Arab states were initially resettled in <a href="/facts/Refugee_camps/eMQ7lQns">refugee camps</a>, known variously as <a href="/facts/Immigrant_camps_(Israel)/XToWnKDj">immigrant camps</a>, <a href="/facts/Ma%27abarot/AD9W9l2L">ma'abarot</a> and development towns. Development towns were subsequently considered by some to be places of relegation and marginalisation.

Development town open-in-new

Development town