The government decided Sunday to consider establishing additional homestead settlements in the Galilee and Negev, and to regularize the legal status of existing ones.

Homesteads are allotments of land, granted by the state to individuals for primarily agricultural use, in areas the state wishes populated.

Housing and Construction Minister Ze'ev Boim submitted the bill for approval. It constitutes a continuation of former prime minister Ariel Sharon's policy, which considered homesteads a means of developing the Negev and the Galilee.

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The government will appoint an interministerial committee headed by the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, in which Israel Lands Authority representatives will also participate. This will work to regulate existing homesteads and will examine the establishment of additional ones.

The Interior Ministry will play a central role in the committee, though ministry sources said they were unaware of Boim's proposal until as late as this past weekend.

One of the main arguments for government and local authority support for the settlements is that they serve the retention of state land, and prevent squatting by Bedouin.

Due to this claim, Adallah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has appealed to the High Court recently against the creation of homesteads, arguing the allocation of land for Jewish use is discriminatory.

Environmental organizations also oppose the homesteads, which they say contradict the principles of protecting open spaces and cause damage to the environment through construction and new infrastructure.

Up until now, a few dozen of the homesteads have been founded, most of them in the Negev. The majority are agricultural settlements, though some are guest houses and restaurants aimed at tourists; some of which are also unlicensed and illegal.