Shadow Plans for Beer Sheva, 1947-1949

Abstract

The development of Jewish Beer Sheva was viewed as the building of a new city, since it was to be manyfold larger than the original Arabic Beer Sheva. The plan for the development of Jewish Beer Sheva was part of the ‘Sharon Plan’, a master plan for the State of Israel published in 1951. However, beyond this official plan, there were several other plans for the city which were eventually relegated to the archive: two plans for a Jewish neighborhood alongside the existing Arab city dated 1947 and a plan for the entire city drawn up by the ‘Afikim Ba-Negev’ company dated 1949. These plans, which were never implemented, shed light on the planning, thinking and ideology during this period, which were based on a connection to the land, the value of community and a changing attitude towards the Arab city.