User:Joefish515/Dror (locality)

Dror is a newly established settlement that is planned to be built on one of the slopes of Mount Hiran, located between Meitar and Arad, in the northeastern Negev. As of 2023, there is already a core of settlement in place.

Up until June 2022, the settlement was temporarily called "Hiran," named after the mountain on which it is located.

History
The government's decision to establish the settlement was made in 1999, followed by the initiation of planning by the Israel Lands Administration and the Ministry of Construction and Housing. In December 2001, the National Planning and Building Council, through its subcommittee for strategic planning (known as "Va'adat Hamishneh"), approved the establishment of the settlement with 2,000 housing units. However, in April 2003, the National Planning and Building Council decided to freeze the plan for the settlement in favor of establishing a larger settlement nearby called "Yatir" by Dankner Investments, which won the tender for its establishment.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection began a protest against the establishment of the settlement, claiming that it would encroach upon the Yatir Forest and areas designated as nature reserves. They argued that it would block an ecological corridor connecting the desert region with the Judean Plain. In July 2004, after a lengthy process spanning several years, the Southern District Planning and Building Committee recommended to the Minister of the Interior, Avraham Poraz, to implement changes in the planning framework for the area. These changes would result in the integration of the planned settlements of "Hiran" (now "Dror"), "Yatir," and "Karmit" into the existing settlement of Meitar. The integration of these three new settlements with Meitar aimed to create a large suburban settlement with over 10,000 housing units. The decision to establish the "Yatir" settlement by the Dankner Group was ultimately revoked, while the planning process for Hiran (now Dror) and Karmit continued.