Itamar (town)
Encyclopedia
Itamar is an Israeli settlement
located in the West Bank
's Samaria
n mountains five kilometers southeast of Nablus
. The predominantly Orthodox
Jewish community
with a population of 1,032 (2009) is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council
. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords
of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
, Itamar was designated Area "C"
under full Israeli civil and security control.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law
, but the Israeli government disputes this. According to a Peace Now report of 2006, 45 percent of the land Itamar is built on, is privately owned, all or most of it by Palestinians. Settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal according to international and Israeli law. The settlement has several outposts and covers a total area of approximately 7,000 dunam
s of land.
Itamar's residents have been the target of several deadly attacks by Palestinian militants, and the UN
and NGOs report an extensive number of violent acts by Israeli settlers from Itamar and its outposts against local Palestinians.
Yeshiva
in Jerusalem with the assistance of Gush Emunim
's settlement organization Amana. Originally named Tel Chaim, commemorating Chaim Landau, it was later named for Ithamar
, the youngest son of Biblical figure Aaron
. Tradition places the burial place of Ithamar in the nearby Palestinian village Awarta
.
The settlement of Itamar, not including the outposts, grew from a population of less than 300 in 1995 to 785 in 2008, and reached a population of over 1,000 in 2009, predominantly strictly religious - most of them newly religious - Jewish settlers.
, 28 kilometers from the Green line
in the region known as “Gav Hahar” (Hump of the Mountain). Its municipal boundaries extend in a south-east diagonal over an area of some 7,000 dunam including several outposts, the furthest of which is about eight kilometers from Itamar. Itamar and its outposts partly encircle the small Palestinian village of Yanun
, and block the development of the Palestinian town of Beit Furik
, according to a report by Israeli human rights organization B'tselem
.
In the 1990s, Itamar “annexed” the surrounding hills, establishing the outposts The Point in 1996, Hill 836, Hill 851 and Giv'ot Olam in 1998, Hill 777 and Hill 782 in 1999, and in 2002 Itamar North. Five of these outposts were approved by former prime minister Ehud Barak
in 2000. At the time, a master plan gave the settlement a total area of some 6,000 dunams. Of the 4,780 dunams of land Itamar proper sits on, 45 percent is privately owned (presumably) Palestinian land, according to Peace Now.
There are several businesses in the settlement, and many of the residents grow organic crops and raise sheep and goats; larger farms produce a range of further products, such as cheese and olive oil.
, elementary school for boys and girls, and several institutions of secondary education
and higher learning
which attract Jewish students from the entire region. Among them are a Talmud Torah
for boys, the Be'er Miriam Talmud Torah for girls, the Hitzim yeshiva
high school for boys, co-founded by Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith who also serves as mayor of Itamar, and the Itamar Hesder yeshiva
founded by Rabbi Brigadier General Avichai Ronsky, IDF
Chief Rabbi from 2006 till 2010.
(18). Zar, the son of settlement leader Moshe Zar
and one of Itamar's founders who worked as security officer of the Shomron Regional Council
, was shot dead in an ambush by Palestinian militants in May 2001 while driving in the West Bank between Kedumim
and Yitzhar
. Asheri was kidnapped by Palestinian Tanzim
militants in June 2006 while on his way from Beitar Illit to Neveh Tzuf, northwest of Ramallah, and murdered while in captivity.
A number of infiltrations into Itamar have also resulted in deaths. Three students of the Hitzim yeshiva high school – Netanel Riachi (17), Gilad Stiglitz (14) and Avraham Siton (17) – were killed by a Palestinian gunman in May 2002.
Less than a month later, a Palestinian militant broke into the home of the Shabo family and opened fire, killing Rachel Shabo (40) and three of her children, Neria (16), Zvi (13), and Avishai (5). Yosef Twito (31), who served as commander of the neighborhood preparedness team, was also shot to death in the attack, as he approached the family's home to help.
Twitos successor, Shlomo Miller (50), was killed in August 2004 by a Palestinian identified as a member of the preventive security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
prohibit Palestinian farmers from working at their fields close to the settlement and are required to protect them during the olive harvest.
However, residents of Itamar and its outposts have been reported harassing local Palestinians, damaging their property and obstructing their access to land, particularly during the olive harvest. They have reportedly stolen olives, prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching their land, even when accompanied by international activists, shot at farmers picking their olives, or grazing their animals. It is alleged that they have set fire to hundreds of olive trees and thousands of dunam of cultivated land belonging to local Palestinians. The small village of Yanun, which is flanked by the settlement's outposts, particularly suffers from constant harassment and attacks, which caused the villagers to abandon their village in October 2002 and move to the larger nearby village of Aqraba
.
In some cases, the alleged violence has resulted in death. Among the victims are Farid Musa Issa Nasasrah (28) from Beit Furik and Hani Bani Maniya (22) from Aqraba. Nasasrah died shortly after arriving at the hospital in Nablus, after (it is believed) two settlers shot at him and members of his family in October 2000 while they were picking olives on their land outside of Beit Furik, wounding four of them. Two Itamar residents who were suspected to be responsible for the killing were arrested and released after five days for "insufficient evidence". Maniya was killed and two others were wounded in a similar attack in October 2002, while harvesting olives near the village of Aqraba. In September 2004, Itamar resident Yehoshua Elitzur shot and killed Sa'il Mustafa Ahmad Jabarah (46), a Palestinian Taxi driver from Salem
, near the Itamar junction. Elitzur was convicted of manslaughter
, was released to house arrest
, did not show up in court for his verdict and disappeared.
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
located in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
's Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
n mountains five kilometers southeast of Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
. The predominantly Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Jewish community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
with a population of 1,032 (2009) is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council
Shomron Regional Council
The Shomron Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Samarian hills, in the northern part of the West Bank. The offices of the regional council are located in the Barkan Industrial Park. This regional council provides various municipal services for the 30 Israeli settlements within...
. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
, Itamar was designated Area "C"
Administrative divisions of the Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords created three temporary distinct administrative divisions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until a final status accord would be established...
under full Israeli civil and security control.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law
International law and Israeli settlements
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal under international law, but Israel maintains that they are consistent with international law because it does not agree that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the...
, but the Israeli government disputes this. According to a Peace Now report of 2006, 45 percent of the land Itamar is built on, is privately owned, all or most of it by Palestinians. Settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal according to international and Israeli law. The settlement has several outposts and covers a total area of approximately 7,000 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s of land.
Itamar's residents have been the target of several deadly attacks by Palestinian militants, and the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and NGOs report an extensive number of violent acts by Israeli settlers from Itamar and its outposts against local Palestinians.
History
The settlement was established in 1984 by several families from the Machon MeirMachon Meir
Machon Meir' is a religious Zionist outreach organization and yeshiva situated in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe, close to Givat Shaul...
Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Jerusalem with the assistance of Gush Emunim
Gush Emunim
Gush Emunim was an Israeli messianic and political movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. While not formally established as an organization until 1974 in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, Gush Emunim sprang out of the conquests of the Six-Day War in 1967, encouraging...
's settlement organization Amana. Originally named Tel Chaim, commemorating Chaim Landau, it was later named for Ithamar
Ithamar
In the Torah, Ithamar is mentioned as the youngest son of Aaron the High Priest. After the death of his two eldest brothers Nadab and Abihu when they had been punished by the Lord for performing an unauthorized sacrificial offering, Ithamar served as a priest along with his elder brother, Eleazar...
, the youngest son of Biblical figure Aaron
Aaron
In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
. Tradition places the burial place of Ithamar in the nearby Palestinian village Awarta
Awarta
Awarta is a Palestinian town located southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,623 inhabitants in 2007...
.
The settlement of Itamar, not including the outposts, grew from a population of less than 300 in 1995 to 785 in 2008, and reached a population of over 1,000 in 2009, predominantly strictly religious - most of them newly religious - Jewish settlers.
Geography
Itamar is situated east of the Israel-Westbank separation barrierIsraeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
, 28 kilometers from the Green line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
in the region known as “Gav Hahar” (Hump of the Mountain). Its municipal boundaries extend in a south-east diagonal over an area of some 7,000 dunam including several outposts, the furthest of which is about eight kilometers from Itamar. Itamar and its outposts partly encircle the small Palestinian village of Yanun
Yanun
Yanun is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the village had a population of 102 in 2007. This was a decrease from 2004 when the PCBS recorded that Yanun had 145 inhabitants....
, and block the development of the Palestinian town of Beit Furik
Beit Furik
Beit Furik is a Palestinian town located nine kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 10,339 inhabitants in 2007. During the 19th century and mid-20th century, Beit...
, according to a report by Israeli human rights organization B'tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
.
In the 1990s, Itamar “annexed” the surrounding hills, establishing the outposts The Point in 1996, Hill 836, Hill 851 and Giv'ot Olam in 1998, Hill 777 and Hill 782 in 1999, and in 2002 Itamar North. Five of these outposts were approved by former prime minister Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
in 2000. At the time, a master plan gave the settlement a total area of some 6,000 dunams. Of the 4,780 dunams of land Itamar proper sits on, 45 percent is privately owned (presumably) Palestinian land, according to Peace Now.
Economy
Itamar was among the settlements which were designated a “national priority zone” in December 2009, and is entitled to an average of NIS 1,000 per person per year in subsidies in addition to the ordinary settlement subsidies.There are several businesses in the settlement, and many of the residents grow organic crops and raise sheep and goats; larger farms produce a range of further products, such as cheese and olive oil.
Education
Itamar's educational system includes kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, elementary school for boys and girls, and several institutions of secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
and higher learning
Higher Learning
Higher Learning is a 1995 American drama film, starring an ensemble cast. It also featured Tyra Banks' first performance in a theatrical film...
which attract Jewish students from the entire region. Among them are a Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...
for boys, the Be'er Miriam Talmud Torah for girls, the Hitzim yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
high school for boys, co-founded by Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith who also serves as mayor of Itamar, and the Itamar Hesder yeshiva
Hesder
Hesder is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework...
founded by Rabbi Brigadier General Avichai Ronsky, IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
Chief Rabbi from 2006 till 2010.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Itamar and its residents have repeatedly been the target of murderous attacks by Palestinian terrorists, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), human rights organisations and media report an extensive number of violent acts by Itamar settlers against local Palestinians. B'Tselem, among other organisations, also criticises that "Israeli authorities have been delinquent in enforcing the law on the offenders."Jewish victims
Residents of Itamar who were killed in attacks outside the settlement include Gilad Zar (41) and Eliyahu AsheriEliyahu Asheri
The murder of Eliyahu Asheri was a terror attack which carried out on June 25, 2006, in which Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees militants kidnapped, and later murdered the 17 year-old Israeli high school student Eliyahu Asheri....
(18). Zar, the son of settlement leader Moshe Zar
Moshe Zar
Moshe Zar is a religious Zionist, a former member of the terrorist organization "Jewish Underground" and Israeli settler leader in the northern West Bank, described by the New York Times as "Wild West-style vigilante mayor of his stretch of the West Bank, inspiring awe among many of the Jews there...
and one of Itamar's founders who worked as security officer of the Shomron Regional Council
Shomron Regional Council
The Shomron Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Samarian hills, in the northern part of the West Bank. The offices of the regional council are located in the Barkan Industrial Park. This regional council provides various municipal services for the 30 Israeli settlements within...
, was shot dead in an ambush by Palestinian militants in May 2001 while driving in the West Bank between Kedumim
Kedumim
Kedumim , also spelled Qedumim, is an Israeli settlement and a town located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank that was founded during Hanukkah 1975 and now enjoys the municipal status of local council. Founded in 1975 by members of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, its current population is...
and Yitzhar
Yitzhar
Yitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
. Asheri was kidnapped by Palestinian Tanzim
Tanzim
Tanzim is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.-Overview:The Tanzim militia, founded in 1995 to counter Palestinian Islamism, is widely considered to be an armed offshoot of Fatah with its own leadership structure...
militants in June 2006 while on his way from Beitar Illit to Neveh Tzuf, northwest of Ramallah, and murdered while in captivity.
A number of infiltrations into Itamar have also resulted in deaths. Three students of the Hitzim yeshiva high school – Netanel Riachi (17), Gilad Stiglitz (14) and Avraham Siton (17) – were killed by a Palestinian gunman in May 2002.
Less than a month later, a Palestinian militant broke into the home of the Shabo family and opened fire, killing Rachel Shabo (40) and three of her children, Neria (16), Zvi (13), and Avishai (5). Yosef Twito (31), who served as commander of the neighborhood preparedness team, was also shot to death in the attack, as he approached the family's home to help.
Twitos successor, Shlomo Miller (50), was killed in August 2004 by a Palestinian identified as a member of the preventive security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
Fogel Family Massacre
In a terrorist attack on March 2011 five members of the Fogel family were killed in their sleep: Udi Fogel (36), Ruth Fogel (35), and their children Yoav (11), Elad (4), and Hadas (3 months). Two Palestinian teenagers from the village of Awarta arrested in April have confessed to the murder.Palestinian victims
The IDFIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
prohibit Palestinian farmers from working at their fields close to the settlement and are required to protect them during the olive harvest.
However, residents of Itamar and its outposts have been reported harassing local Palestinians, damaging their property and obstructing their access to land, particularly during the olive harvest. They have reportedly stolen olives, prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching their land, even when accompanied by international activists, shot at farmers picking their olives, or grazing their animals. It is alleged that they have set fire to hundreds of olive trees and thousands of dunam of cultivated land belonging to local Palestinians. The small village of Yanun, which is flanked by the settlement's outposts, particularly suffers from constant harassment and attacks, which caused the villagers to abandon their village in October 2002 and move to the larger nearby village of Aqraba
Aqraba
Aqraba is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate, located eighteen kilometers southeast of Nablus in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , Aqraba had a population of approximately 8,180 inhabitants in 2007.Nearby hamlets surrounding Aqraba for...
.
In some cases, the alleged violence has resulted in death. Among the victims are Farid Musa Issa Nasasrah (28) from Beit Furik and Hani Bani Maniya (22) from Aqraba. Nasasrah died shortly after arriving at the hospital in Nablus, after (it is believed) two settlers shot at him and members of his family in October 2000 while they were picking olives on their land outside of Beit Furik, wounding four of them. Two Itamar residents who were suspected to be responsible for the killing were arrested and released after five days for "insufficient evidence". Maniya was killed and two others were wounded in a similar attack in October 2002, while harvesting olives near the village of Aqraba. In September 2004, Itamar resident Yehoshua Elitzur shot and killed Sa'il Mustafa Ahmad Jabarah (46), a Palestinian Taxi driver from Salem
Salim, Nablus
Salim is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located six kilometers east of Nablus and is a part of the Nablus Governorate. It is the site of the ancient Israelite capital city Shechem, situated in a well-watered valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Nearby towns include Deir...
, near the Itamar junction. Elitzur was convicted of manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
, was released to house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
, did not show up in court for his verdict and disappeared.
External links
- Unofficial website
- Amidst political strife and a firing range on the West Bank, the Zimmermans farm, market, and sanctify the land
- Friends of Itamar
- Breaking the Law in the West Bank – One Violation Leads to Another: Israeli Settlement Building on Private Palestinian Property. A Report of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Team, October 2006