Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to delay the renewal of work on the ARAN wind farm in the northern Golan Heights until August 1 out of concern about renewed protests by the local Druze community.
This is the second postponement of the project after Netanyahu spoke last month to Sheikh Mowaffaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, and postponed work until after Eid al-Adha, when it was completed. on saturday. The postponement contradicted the position of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who believed that work on the project should continue despite the protests.
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At the same time, Netanyahu formed a ministerial committee with representatives of the Druze community and Energix Renewable Energies, the company implementing the project, which will be asked to present its recommendations by June 19. The goal is to reduce friction between the Druze community. aspects. Netanyahu took the step even though the Supre3me court rejected a petition against the project filed by three members of the Druze community.
Protests against the Far Wind project erupted two weeks ago with 12 people injured in violent confrontations between police and members of the Druze community. Four policemen were slightly injured, three protesters were seriously injured by gunfire, and four others sustained moderate or light injuries.
The ARAN (Clean Wind Energy) project began as a joint venture between Druze residents of the northern Golan Heights and Energix Renewable Energies, who wanted to jointly advance a national infrastructure project to produce electricity from wind power. The project will consist of 21 wind turbines, with a production capacity of 104 megawatts, and its cost is estimated at 700 million shekels. ARAN aims to provide energy to 50,000 households for twenty years. The project involves removing mines remaining since the 1967 Six-Day War from 170 dunams (42.5 acres) of land, and returning the land to the agricultural use of its owners. The Druze residents claim that the people from whom the land for the project was rented are not the real owners. The case became a rallying point to express various grievances of the Druze community.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 3, 2023.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.
