Antiquity Arad is named after the Biblical Bronze Age
Canaanite and later
Israelite town located at
Tel Arad (a
Biblical archaeology site famous for the discovery of
ostraca), which is located approximately west of modern Arad. Ancient Arad became a Christian
bishopric. Stephanus, one of its bishops, was a signatory of the synodal letter of John III of Jerusalem against
Severus of Antioch in 518 and took part in
the 536 synod of the three
Roman provinces of
Palaestina Prima,
Palaestina Secunda, and
Palaestina Salutaris (to the last of which Arad belonged) against
Anthimus I of Constantinople. No longer a residential bishopric, Arad is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see.
British Mandate era The first modern attempt to settle the area was made by the
Yishuv, the body of Jewish residents in
Mandatory Palestine, on 23 February 1921, when the British Mandate government allowed discharged soldiers from the
Jewish Legion to settle in the area. Nine men and two women attempted the task, but after four months were forced to leave because water was not found in the area.
State of Israel On 15 November 1960, a planning team, followed by a full-fledged committee on 29 December, was appointed by the
Israeli cabinet to examine the possibility of establishing a city in the northeastern
Negev desert and Arad region. An initial budget of
IL50,000 was granted for the project, headed by
Aryeh Eliav. On 31 January 1961, the final location was chosen ( southwest of Mount Kidod), and plans were approved for roads and water connections. In March 1961, blueprints for a city of 10,000- 20,000 residents were drawn up. Yona Pitelson was the chief architect and planner. The plan took into account topography and climate, with residential buildings constructed with large inner courtyards that offered protection from the desert sun and wind. High density residential areas were built first in order to create an urban milieu and shorten walking distances. The oil company Nefta built a work camp in the area in July 1961, consisting of six temporary sheds, after oil was found there in commercial quantities. The founding ceremony was held on 21 November, and attended by then-Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion. It was one of the last
development towns to be founded. According to the city website, Arad was the first pre-planned city in Israel. Until 1964, Arad had about 160 families, most of whom were natives. After 1971 Arad began absorbing
olim (Jewish immigrants), mostly
from the Soviet Union, but also from
English speaking countries and
Latin America, and its population increased from 4,000 in 1969 to 10,500 in 1974 and 12,400 in 1983. During the first half of the 1990s, Arad absorbed 6,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union. In 1995, the city had 20,900 residents. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin declared Arad a city on 29 June 1995. On 21 March 2026, during the
2026 Iran War, Arad was hit by an
Iranian missile strike aimed at several cities in southern Israel that seriously damaged several buildings and injured more than 110 people in what was described as a mass casualty event. ==Geography==