Special to the JTA Region 2000: ‘a New Way of Organizing for Living’

Israel’s planned Region 2000 will be the prototype for “a new way of organizing for living,” which should become “a project not only of Israelis but of the Zionist movement at large,” according to former Israel President Ephraim Katzir, chairman of the project’s planning committee.

A proposal for development in the western Galilee of a high technology industrial and residential area, Region 2000 will stretch from Segev in the south to Maalot in the north, with Carmiel as its center. The plan has been confirmed in writing by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and full government approval is expected in a few months, Katzir said.

Katzir conceived the idea of Region 2000 during his presidency four years ago, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an exclusive interview. “Because of my scientific background, I faced quite a number of problems that dealt with Israel’s highly trained manpower,” he said.

“Some were leaving because there were no jobs. I thought about establishing science-based industries to absorb them, and also as a way of attracting academics and professionals from the diaspora.

“At about the same time, then Minister of Industry and Trade Yigal Horowitz asked me to head a committee on the development of the Galilee,” he added. With some 20,000 Jews and about the same number of Druze and Arabs living in the area, the western Galilee has been earmarked for development by the Israel government. Region 2000 was Katzir’s answer to both problems.

FIVE SIGNIFICANT GOALS

Planners perceive the project as achieving five significant goals: populating the western Galilee; attracting highly educated immigrants from the United States and elsewhere; bringing back yordim (Israeli emigrants); expanding investment from abroad in Israel’s high technology industries; and increasing Israel’s export of these products. Israel’s industrial exports today total $3.5 billion (without diamonds), with $1.5 billion consisting of completely original Israeli research and development, Katzir said.

In addition to increasing the number of science-based industries in Israel, the Region 2000 planning committee is concerned with the quality of life in the proposed area, Katzir explained.

“We want the jobs available, educational facilities and feeling of community responsibility to attract the best professionals from within and without the country,” he said. “Our pilot plan tries to build how people will live in the year 2000 and afterward. The region will have the most modern technology for communications, education and health services, plus advanced industries in which to earn a living.”

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR AREA IN PROCESS

Prof. Arieh Lavie, chief scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and director of the Region 2000 planning committee, said that the Ministry has just approved phase two of the plan. This involves creation of a conceptual design for the area, to be completed in early 1983 by a group headed by Prof. Natonel Litchfield of England.

Upon approval of this conceptual plan, the committee will seek proposals for specific designs from architects and urban planners in Israel and abroad. In May 1983, an international conference of technological experts, investors and Jewish leaders is scheduled to be held in Israel, to evaluate these proposals and discuss implementation at the project.

“I believe that Region 2000 will encourage Israelis and Jews from throughout the world to settle in the area and have good relations with the existing population,” Lavie said. “In order to encourage new settlers, we will have to develop sophisticated science-based industries which are recognized throughout the world as centers of excellence. This is one of the most attractive areas in Israel, and the plan incorporates these industries with nature and retains the beautiful view.” He projects a population of 120,000 in the region by the year 2000.

INDUSTRIES UNDER CONSIDERATION

Industries under consideration by the planning committee include biotechnology, medical electronics, bioengineering, computer manufacture, and robotics, Lavie said. In addition, he perceived the region as a center for development of the natural resources of the Galilee, with industries based on peat, water reservoirs, agriculture, agricultural technology, iron, poplar trees and other vegetation.

Specific plans include two new science-based industrial parks: one for civilian electro-optics, based on military technology developed by Raphael, the Research and Development Authority of the Ministry of Defense; and the other, under the office of Lavie, to provide services such as industrial research and testing for the industries in the area.

Lavie also said the committee foresees a computer center to provide services and develop educational technologies through computers, and a technological high school, to educate technicians for the area.

A skeletal structure for Region 2000 already exists, with several science-based industrial parks in Carmiel. In Segev, 21 American families have in the last two years made aliya to Shorashim, an industrial village that produces electronic intercoms and is currently developing surgical diagnostic devices.

Also in the Segev area, three new companies in the industrial moshav of Ya’ad deal with medical electronics, computers and architecture. Elcint produces medical electronic equipment in Ma’alot, and an industrial park for metallurgy is soon to be built at Kfar Vetedim.

In addition to Katzir and Lavie, members of the Region 2000 planning committee include Baruch Venger, Mayor of Carmiel; Uzia Galil, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Technion and president of Elron Industries in Haifa; David Koren, a former Knesset member who lives in Kibbutz Gesher Haziv; and Stephan Wertheimer, head of the Iskar Company, which produces aircraft engine blades.