{"id":174,"date":"2024-01-18T07:34:14","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T07:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/git.quatro.digital\/clients\/kkl\/?post_type=community&p=174"},"modified":"2024-02-01T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T12:07:16","slug":"ofakim","status":"publish","type":"community","link":"https:\/\/donate.kkl-jnf.org\/westernnegevtribute\/?community=ofakim","title":{"rendered":"Ofakim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ofakim (Hebrew for “Horizons<\/em>“) was founded on April 19, 1955, and declared a city in 1995. It serves as an urban center for the communities of the Merhavim and Eshkol regional councils.
\nEstablished with the intent to be develop as a “regional center” that would include, among other things, a clinic, a regional school, an amphitheater and a Tnuva distribution center (for receiving agricultural produce), its own construction was the main source of income for its residents during those first years. Ofakim’s first residents were immigrants from Morocco and Tunisia, then at the end of 1956, after the Sinai War, a wave of 150 Egyptian Jewish families (some of them Karaites) relocated there, and in the following years, 170 new immigrant families arrived from Persia, India and Romania. In a heart-warming gesture, in June 1977 Ofakim took in 66 refugees from Vietnam, whose ship capsized in the South China Sea, when no other country was willing to take them in. The prime minister at the time, Menachem Begin, whose memory of the holocaust and Jewish refugees tottering in the sea was deeply engrained in him, decided to accept the refugees in Israel, and gave them full citizenship.
\nThe first industrial plant established in Ofakim was a diamond polishing plant, and in 1959, the construction of two textile factories began, which were intended to bring employment and lead to the development of the town. Ofakim was in fact, a major textile manufacturing center for many years, however, outsourcing of textile manufacturing outside Israel caused the factories to close and Ofakim suffered economic stagnation, with high poverty and unemployment rates as a result.
\nFrom 2015 onward, the city had begun to change course and gradually economic improvements were realized. New factories moved in, and the city underwent major urban development. Tax incentives were given to open new factories in Ofakim, and a branch of MATI, an organization that supports small businesses, was opened. The high-tech industry also entered Ofakim. Thousands of new housing units, commercial and employment centers, and a youth center which included a cinema were built. The Ofakim Railway Station was completed in December 2015 with a car park for 1,000 cars. Next to the train station, a new neighborhood specially designed to have affordable prices for young people, was built as part of the “Noah Initiative”, which was started by activists from Tel Aviv. In 2017, 14,436 housing units were built, including the construction of high-rise of buildings, with the aim of doubling the city’s population. With the housing units also come the development of an industrial zone in southern Ofakim, with increased funding for infrastructure and urban renewal projects, and the construction of a new road between Ofakim and the Ramon Airport near Eilat.
\nThe city boasts six tennis courts, a soccer stadium, and the Nahal Shomriya cycling route that was inaugurated in 2010. The 60-centimeter-wide single route winds through 1,500 dunams (approx. 375 acres) in the Ofakim Forest, passing through Nahal Shomriya and Nahal Patish, and looping around eight local moshavim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ofakim (Hebrew for “Horizons“) was founded on April 19, 1955, and declared a city in 1995. It serves as an urban center for the communities of the Merhavim and Eshkol regional councils. Established with the intent to be develop as a “regional center” that would include, among other things, a clinic, a regional school, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/donate.kkl-jnf.org\/westernnegevtribute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/community\/174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/donate.kkl-jnf.org\/westernnegevtribute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/community"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/donate.kkl-jnf.org\/westernnegevtribute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/community"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/donate.kkl-jnf.org\/westernnegevtribute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}