Israel Today: What plan implemented by Israel inside Syria to achieve a strategic goal and a grand dream?
In a move that reflects a strategic shift in Israel’s approach to its eastern, northern, and southern borders, the Netanyahu government recently announced approval of the first phase of a comprehensive plan developed by the “New Guardian organization” a leading Zionist social and educational organization.
Founded in 2007, the New Guardian organization focuses on linking border security with settlement projects, as well as religious education and ideological recruitment.
It seeks to change Israel’s defense doctrine by reshaping the front lines through settlement expansion and infrastructure development.
The plan, first revealed by sources within the organization, includes a series of measures aimed at strengthening and expanding existing settlements, along with establishing new ones in remote areas near the border.
The plan also includes the construction of religious schools, military colleges, student villages, and youth farms to enhance stability and defense along the border.
In a report by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom (Israel Today) writer Hanan Greenwood discussed the details of the plan, which extends from Mount Hermon in the north, through the Golan Heights, and reaches the Araba Valley in the south.
Greenwood explains that the events of October 7 marked a turning point in the organization’s vision, as it became clear that the status quo was no longer sufficient to ensure border security.
Since 2021, with rising tensions and the Guardians of the Walls unrest, the organization has begun moving to establish student villages and educational centers in sparsely populated areas to strengthen its presence and deepen its settlement.
This plan is based on the ideas of Yaakov (Yigal) Allon, one of the leaders of the “Israeli War of Independence” 1948 who believed that establishing strong, trained population centers on the borders was the basis for providing real strategic depth for the State of Israel, such that these population centers could repel any attack until the arrival of the central army.
According to Greenwood, the plan’s northernmost point will be on the slopes of Mount Hermon, connecting with the settlement of Neve Ativ, making the area more fortified, especially after the recent reinforcements.
In the Golan Heights, the plan includes the establishment of two settlement outposts near the Syrian border: one east of Merom Golan and Ein Zivan near Quneitra, and the second between Alonei HaShan and Keshet, with the aim of transforming population centers into strong security barriers.
The plan’s implementation is also linked to recent government decisions to establish Nahal youth fighting units, in addition to military colleges and regular and ultra-Orthodox religious schools, along with the establishment of farms, student villages, and temporary housing in existing towns to reinforce the eastern border.
Before the October 7 attack, the prevailing notion was that borders were fortified by strong walls and fences.
This view has since crumbled, and it has become clear that strengthening settlements and developing communities along the border is the most effective way to ensure security.
“We need to build connected areas that bring together settlements that will cooperate and train together, in accordance with the fortifications concept proposed by Yaakov Allon,” said Yoel Zilberman, founder and CEO of the New Guard.
Zilberman added, “We learned from October 7 that we needed to radically rethink the concept of our borders and create new defensive lines… We’ll begin on the eastern border, but we plan to apply this model to the borders of Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon, and with future developments in Gaza as well… Settlement must be significantly intensified, and new settlements and outposts must be established to effectively secure our borders”.
