Israel to invest billions of shekels in 5-year plan for Druze, Circassian communities

The government will mull an approximately NIS 3.9 billion ($1.1 billion) plan to resolve housing and planning issues that have afflicted the Druze and Circassian communities in northern Israel for years, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

The five-year-plan is touted by the PMO as the country’s largest-ever focusing on the two minority communities. A video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the plan includes a Druze member of his party thanking the premier effusively as an “asset to the country and the community.”

“There has never been anything like this before; this will advance the Druze community, help close gaps, and propel this critically important sector forward,” Netanyahu says in the video statement.

The initiative will be presented to cabinet member for approval on Sunday, according to the PMO.

As of April 2024, most of Israel’s approximately 150,000 Druze (about two percent of the total population) live on the Carmel Range, and in the Galilee and Golan Heights, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel’s Circassian community, a mostly Muslim minority, numbers about 5,000 and is concentrated in towns of the Lower Galilee.

Israel’s leaders have been increasingly vocal in defending and advocating for the Druze community, especially following the 2024 Hezbollah rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, and recent clashes between Syria’s new government and local Druze communities. Requests for Israeli citizenship by Golan Druze have recently hit an all time high.

The program, formulated in cooperation with relevant government ministries, will allocate NIS 650 million ($179 million) for planning and housing, establish a planning committee for Druze and Circassian localities, and accelerate urban and detailed planning, says the PMO. NIS 450 million ($124 million) will be invested to align the education system with future job markets, according to the PMO.

The plan also seeks to improve electricity connections and subsidize new construction for discharged soldiers and young couples, as well as strengthen local authorities by investing over NIS 1 billion to increase their budgets, organizational efficiency, and develop new income sources through economic projects.