Towns built since the early 1950s, primarily in regions remote from the established population centers, which have several purposes. These include the dispersal of population and industry for both economic and security reasons and the development of administrative and economic centers for the more rural areas of the country. The idea was to create new urban centers as opposed to additional farming villages that had been the pattern in the prestate period. This would also provide facilities for the absorption and integration of the large numbers of new immigrants (see ALIYA) to the country. Among the development towns are Kiryat Shmona, Maalot, Karmiel, Migdal Haemek, Bet Shemesh, Ashdod, Netivot, Arad, Dimona, and Mitzpe Ramon.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..