DIMONA

'Dimona' is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, 36 kilometers to the south of Beer-Sheva and 35 kilometers west of the Dead Sea in the Southern District of Israel.
Dimona was one of the development towns that were created in the 1950s with the leadership of David Ben-Gurion. Dimona itself was conceived in 1953, and settled in 1955, mostly by new immigrants from Northern Africa, who also constructed the city's houses. When the Israeli nuclear program started later that decade, a location not so far from the city was chosen for the Negev Nuclear Research Center due to its relative isolation in the desert and availability of housing.
In spite of a gradual decrease during the 1980s, the city's population began to grow once again with the beginning of the Russian immigration in the 1990s. Currently, Dimona is the third largest city in the Negev, with the population of 31,200 (1995 estimate). About a third of the city's population works in industrial workplaces (chemical plants near the Dead Sea, high-tech companies and textile shops), and another third in the area of services.
Due to the introduction of new technologies, many workers have been made redundant in the recent years, creating a total unemployment rate of about 10%.
Dimona is home to nearly 3,000 Black Hebrews governed by its founder and spiritual leader, Ben Ammi Ben Israel. Ben Ammi returned to Israel in the year 1969 from America. The community is being studied by the Israeli Government and other African nations.

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Sister cities

Sister cities

★ Andernach, Germany, since 1975: first Israeli-German sister cities