KATZRIN — Despite more than two years of continued tensions on both the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, this border town in the Golan Heights feels like a sleepy place, somehow insulated from conflict.

On a recent early morning, Richard Zwerling, who moved to Katzrin from Arizona last year, stopped by the Craft Roasters and Artisan Market on the town’s central square, where a group of regulars, all American immigrants, were having coffee.

The town of about 8,000 residents “feels like a small town in America,” Zwerling said. “It’s almost impossible to get home when you’re walking around, because you’re talking to everybody.”

The floor-to-ceiling shelves of the coffee shop, opened last September, are lined with Golan products, including whiskeys made by its owners, Alona Sadovski Zibell and David Zibell, who own Golani Distillery.

However, since mid-April, when the government approved a five-year plan to develop the Golan Heights by 2030, with a total investment of approximately NIS 1 billion ($330 million), it is clear the town is about to wake up.

“Today we made history by turning Katzrin into the first Israeli city in the Golan,” Ze’ev Elkin, a minister in the Finance Ministry tasked with rehabilitating the country’s perimeter, said in a statement coinciding with the government’s announcement.

The move will bring 3,000 new families to the Golan and Katzrin, along with investment in infrastructure, housing, public services, and education.

The University of Kiryat Shmona (formerly Tel-Hai College) will open a branch in Katzrin and a veterinary hospital.

As part of the development package, the government has set aside NIS 150 million ($50 million) to clear minefields so that land can be used for agriculture, commerce, housing and industry.

Last week, the Defense Ministry’s Israel National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) cleared away 700 dunams (173 acres) filled with mines and unexploded ordnance near Katzrin.

“The whole area is going to blossom,” said the mayor, Yehuda Dua, 33, in a recent video call with The Times of Israel. “There will be 20,000 residents in three to four years.”

The Israel National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) of the Israel Defense Ministry cleared away 700 dunams (173 acres) of minefields in the Golan Heights near the Syrian Border on April 27, 2026. (Courtesy/Israel National Mine Action Authority )

There are currently about 300 English-speaking families in Katzrin and Dua plans to attract more.

Dua, who prides himself on being Israel’s youngest mayor, said........

© The Times of Israel