At any given moment, there are over 20,000 visitors in the Dead Sea area - the size of a medium-sized city in Israel. The Tamar Regional Council is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the huge and complex area, which ensures a pleasant experience for visitors. What are the main principles behind the agenda of Nir Wanger, head of the Tamar Regional Council, in balancing tourism, settlement, industry and nature? And how is this related to him personally being an active volunteer in the Ein Gedi rescue unit?

The Dead Sea is one of the most famous and intriguing natural wonders in the whole world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world come to the area, along with Israeli visitors who choose to rest, travel and experience culture in the magical area of ​​the Tamar and Dead Sea Regional Council.

Behind the showcase of the clean beaches, the calm settlements and the huge cultural events that the council organizes every year, led by the "Tamar Festival" (translated: "Date Festival"), is the hard and dedicated work of the council's employees, who are responsible, among other things, for the maintenance and operation of the infrastructure for that pleasant tourist experience.

How does the head of the council and his senior staff ensure consistency in the service provided to the thousands of visitors who come to the area every day? And what are the emphases set by Nir Wanger, head of the council, for the present and the future of the region?

As soon as he took office, Wanger established three "notes":

First and foremost: Residents

Nir Wenger, married +4, resident of Kibbutz Ein Gedi, currently serves as head of the Tamar Regional Council. In the past, he served as the head of the tourism department and as the head of the settlements department in the council. In addition, he serves as the deputy commander of the Ein Gedi rescue unit and has volunteered there for many years. "Just yesterday we were in a rescue operation on the southern bank of the Dead Sea, in front of Masada," shares Wenger, who has not given up volunteering in the unit even since he was elected head of the council. "Usually it's about rescues of travelers in area and this time of border smugglers who couldn't cross the road and also needed to be rescued."

According to him, this is a part of the security document of the settlement defense of the State of Israel. "The agricultural areas are on Israel's eastern border, and just as the kibbutzim and moshvaniks of old, constituted physical protection at the borders, so I see the role of settlement and agriculture in our region and in the Arava. We are also there in the smuggling of illegal drugs.

Wanger's recent rescue experience leads him to the first of the central principles of the council - residents.

"The first is our dear residents, the residents of the Tamar Council. The residents are also the volunteers in the rescue units, the emergency units, volunteers in the MDA, EMS and police - who serve tens of thousands of travelers and visitors. As the head of the council, I also cannot afford to stop volunteering - Simply because there are too few residents and there are a lot of chores."

Wanger says that the council, in partnership with government officials and the municipality of Arad, is establishing initiatives to promote settlement, which will strengthen the administrations in the eastern Negev, "so that people can travel safely to the Dead Sea and so that the children of the council do not have to travel by bus with a police escort at certain times."

Wanger emphasizes that "the Negev is like a mixed city, and therefore all settlements in it needs to be strengthened - regulating the Bedouin settlement on the one hand and strengthening the settlement of the Jewish settlements on the other. The settlements in the council take in new residents all the time. We invite those who want to live a unique lifestyle to be absorbed in our moshvim and kibbutzim.