Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today:
"I have been told that this is the first Cabinet meeting ever in Be'er Sheva. Thus, today's meeting is both a precedent and an important symbol.
We have convened here in Be'er Sheva for our first meeting after the Government's first 100 days in office. It was no coincidence that Be'er Sheva was chosen. We are busy with development plans for the city and the south of the country. First, is the completion of the Nahal Be'er Sheva Park, which will benefit not only the residents of Be'er Sheva but those of the entire area, from Ashkelon southward. We will advance the relocation of the IDF training base complex to the south and this will bring a sharp increase in transferring a population with special abilities from the center of the country to the south, with very many ancillary services.
We will extend Highway #6 until Hanegev junction, until the every entrance to Be'er Sheva, which will provide for a very rapid link from the capital of the Negev to the center of the country and vice versa. We have already taken several steps in this regard. I recall that as Finance Minister, we built the railroad station here at Ben-Gurion University and we also allocated funds for a scientific and industrial park that is about to be realized. The first building will go up in a few months and all of these are concrete actions in which we are transferring resources to the south.
Today, I seek to announce a project that, in my mind, will be the focus of attention after 60 years. We will resume planning – and I have instructed this – for the Be'er Sheva-Eilat, in effect the Dimona-Eilat, railway line, which will link Eilat with Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv and link Eilat, Be'er Sheva, Ashkelon and Ashdod as well. Every citizen will be able to go to Eilat. The entire south will be opened at once.
The second thing is that we will join Asia to Europe with a land-bridge. This will enable the ground transportation of goods from Eilat to Ashdod, with far-reaching consequences. This process, which was halted towards the end of my term as Finance Minister, is being resumed at the beginning of my tenure as Prime Minister, with the assistance of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and of Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. We will discuss this; I think that this will be a great change. It will be accompanied by changes at the Israel Land Administration and at planning and building committees to facilitate the freeing up of land so that young couples and recently discharged soldiers will be able to find themselves homes at reasonable prices and not exorbitant prices in the center of the country. We also want to develop other elements in both the south and the north.
First and foremost, with the assistance of Minister Silvan Shalom, who is responsible for both the development of the Negev and the Galilee, and for regional projects, we would like to advance the project to link the Red Sea and the Dead Sea by means of a canal which could create sources of water. The combination of a high-speed rail, readily available ground planning and water will certainly change the picture of the northern Negev in a very, very dramatic fashion.
These are the plans that we will discuss today at this special meeting. We thereby express this Government's commitment to the development of the Negev and the Galilee. I tell you that we will hold a similar meeting in the Galilee, not just one here and there, but more than one in order to ensure that we implement the specific projects that we discuss.
I think that the residents of the north and south deserve this. In recent years, they have suffered from missile strikes and terrorist attacks. They deserve tranquil and prosperous lives as in any other part of the country, as in any other part of the civilized world.
We have come to Be'er Sheva today to simply say that we will do our utmost to see to it that this happens. We will do our utmost so that you may live here in security, prosperity and peace, so that your children will stay here, so that other young people will come here from the center of the country and will have families and good lives.
While this is what we wish to our brothers here in the south, and in the north, I would also like to say a word to our neighbors. The Palestinian people who live next to us have the basic right to live in security, peace, and prosperity. In recent weeks, we have made many efforts to ease their lives, especially regarding freedom of movement for Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. We have removed many roadblocks and checkpoints. Last week, I decided to expand the operating hours of the Allenby Border Terminal in order to facilitate the flow of additional goods and ordered the advancement of a series of projects being led by Minister Shalom in order to promote the Palestinian economy in an effort to advance peace. But I would like to make it clear that all of these efforts are unilateral on Israel's part. All these efforts can only go so far, and the results will multiply many times if only there is cooperation from the other side. Therefore, I call again on the Palestinian leadership in Judea and Samaria, to the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, let us meet. Let us make peace, diplomatic peace and economic peace. Let us cooperate on these projects. We can attract many interested investors who are waiting for the steps we have already started to take. Therefore, there is no reason not to meet, Abu-Mazen and I, anywhere in the country. Since we are here in Be'er Sheva, I call on him – let us meet here and begin to advance peace for the benefit of both our peoples.
I am told that we are now marking the 30th anniversary of Anwar Sadat's visit to Be'er Sheva. I did not check the exact date. We are a little off but better late than never.
Thank you very much."