A view of Ein Avdat in the Zin Valley of the Negev Desert. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Following an at times stormy debate, the Israeli government approved on Sunday the establishment of five new communities in its southern Negev region.

At the beginning of Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the plan was “important news for all residents of the area and is part of the process of organizing this part of the country, which has been neglected for so many years.”

“Our goal is to return the state to the Negev – Zionism 2022,” he said, according to the prime minister’s office. “Our highest obligation is to provide personal security for the residents of the south; we have started on this journey and we will not stop.”

The rural settlements will be built in the southeastern part of the desert region, and will include one community set aside for the area’s Bedouin population, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said that the decision “has immense strategic importance to strengthening governance in the Negev,” Kan reported.

The plan’s approval, however, followed a stormy exchange between Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg, a critic of the plan.

Sa’ar told Zandberg, “You have a blazing hatred of Jewish settlement,” to which Zandberg replied that Sa’ar’s conduct was “disgusting.”

About the plan, Zandberg said, “We’ve gone completely crazy, sorry to spoil the happiness and the blessings.”

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said, “This is what they said about Zionism from day one,” prompting Zandberg to respond, “Wait, minister, we’ll talk about Zionism. For the first one hundred years, we had to build, now we have to entrench. To let the land rest. This [plan] harms the environment.”

She added that the new communities will only be composed of “expensive villas.”