KARMI'EL

also spelled Carmiel (Hebrew: Vineyard of God), town, northern Israel, in the Valley of Bet Kerem, on the boundary of Upper and Lower Galilee, just off the main eastwest highway from 'Akko (Acre) to Zefat (Safed). One of Israel's development towns, Karmi'el is the first Jewish town in an area settled almost entirely by Arabs. It has a linear business and commercial centre, with an intersecting band of parkland, surrounded by residential and industrial areas, the whole encircled by a ring road. Multilevel housing hugs the slopes of the Galilean hills. The town, inhabited since 1964, was planned for an optimum population of 50,000. Industries include manufacture of textiles (shirts and blouses) and building materials and light metalworking. Pop. (1987 est.) 18,800.