The Sea of Galilee as seen from the Moshava Kinneret community. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Knesset’s Interior Committee was the scene of heated emotions on Thursday as Arab MKs attacked the Israeli government initiative to build new Jewish communities in northern Israel’s Galilee region.

MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash) spoke of the “obsession of the housing and construction minister [Uri Ariel] to build new settlements,” according to Israel Hayom.

MK Jamal Zahalka (National Democratic Assembly) said, “The Galilee is ours and the land is ours.”

Yael Solomon, of the Israeli Interior Ministry’s planning directorate, said in response that there is no trend of “making the Galilee more Jewish,” and that the National Council for Planning and Construction has formulated a policy of strengthening and enhancing new communities.