Shaping a culturally sensitive planning strategy: Mitigating the impact of Israel's proposed transnational highway on Arab communities

The decade-long period of public debate and planning for Israel's Trans-Israel Highway has been characterized by controversy and passion. There has been little if any consideration of how Highway Six can help redress the economic imbalance between Israel's Arab and Jewish sectors. Land compensation is a complex process whenever expropriations take place. The development impact, which affects both private and public interests, has to take into account the differences in culture and legal status between two communities: Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli. This article offers a set of mechanisms that, only if agreed upon in advance, could ensure a system of shared capital among all stakeholders working toward jointly arrived-at solutions and would lend substance to the concept of cultural sensitivity in planning.