The Knesset Committee on Internal Affairs and Environment has approved a decision to withdraw 1.14 square kilometers of the Park HaCarmel nature reserve and transfer this territory to Dalyat el-Carmel. As part of the decision, housing construction carried out on private lands located on the territory of the reserve is retroactively legitimized. The land alienated from the reserve is part of the territory transferred to Israel’s largest Druze settlement as part of an urban development plan approved back in 2020.
In total, the city’s area will increase from 8.97 square meters. km to 12.26 sq. km. The city’s population should increase from 19 thousand people now to 30 thousand people in 2060. Currently, two development plans for Daliat el-Karmel for 3,200 housing units and for 700 housing units are awaiting approval.