Karmiel, Israel

Karmiel (כַּרְמִיאֵל‎) is one of the first cities in Israel to be established according to an urban master plan, and is located in northern Israel. It currently has a population of approximately 50,000 people, approximately 40% of whom are immigrants from 75 countries. A majority of these immigrants are from the former Soviet Union. According to the national master plan, by 2020 Karmiel will have a population of approximately 120,000 residents. Karmiel is located on the Akko-Safed road (Highway 85) on the northern edge of Lower Galilee. It was built as part of the Central Galilee Development Project. Work began in 1963, and the first 16 families moved in during the official inauguration ceremony, which took place in October 1964. In 1981, Karmiel was awarded the Beautiful Israel prize.

In 1964, when local Arabs applied for permission to move into the town, Minister of Housing Yosef Almogi replied that "Karmiel was not built to solve the problems for the people in the surrounding area."

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah fired 180 Katyusha rockets into Karmiel and the neighboring villages, leading to causalities and damages to buildings, roads, and cars.

There are various neighborhoods within Karmiel, and all the homes within a neighborhood look the same, and therefore were developed by the same planner. You can differentiate the neighborhoods by the style of house/condo complex. Each separated neighborhood has its own school, health center, small shopping strip mall, dentist, etc. There is a larger city center which includes a variety of stores, banks, restaurants, etc. Each neighborhood is entered by a different road circle.

Karmiel is a sister city of Pittsburgh, PA, Denver, CO, Metz, France, Hamar, Norway, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, and Kisvarda, Hungary.

Karmiel has a strict immigration center that every potential citizen must go through before having the potential of owning a home in the city.

a new neighborhood being constructed