The Shomron Regional Council is a regional council

Regional council (Israel)

Regional councils are one of the three types of local government entities found in Israel, with the other two being cities and local councils. As of 2003, there were 53 regional councils in Israel, usually responsible for governing a number of settlements spread across rural areas...

 in the northern Samarian hills, in the northern part of 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...

. The offices of the regional council are located in the Barkan Industrial Park

Barkan Industrial Park

The Barkan Industrial Park is located about 25 kilometres east of Tel Aviv within the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council whose offices are located at the northern entrance...

. This regional council provides various municipal services for the 30 Israeli settlement

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...

s within its territory, with a population of about 23,600 people. The council seat is located in Elon Moreh

Elon Moreh

Elon Moreh is an Israeli settlement located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank northeast of Nablus on the slopes of the Mount Kabir ridge....

.
The largest community in the Shomron Regional Council today is Sha'arei Tikva

Sha'arei Tikva

Sha'arei Tikva is an Israeli settlement and a communal village located at an elevation of 200 metres north-east of Rosh HaAyin and one kilometre east of the Green Line near Elkana in the north-western West Bank...

, numbering more than 1,000 families, and the youngest is Nofei Nehemia, numbering 20 families.

The municipal area of the Council spreads across 2,800 square kilometers (about 10 per cent of the area of the State of Israel). According to its municipal area, Shomron Regional Council is among the largest authorities of Israel.

In November 2007, Gershon Mesika

Gershon Mesika

Gershon Mesika an Israeli lawyer and politician who currently serves as mayor of Shomron Regional Council.-Biography:Born in Ashdod, Mesika is an Israeli lawyer. Since 1982 he has lived in the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh with his wife and family. He previously owned a local armored limousine...

 was elected the head of Shomron Regional Council. The previous head, Benzi Lieberman stepped down from the position, as well as from being the head of the Yesha Council

Yesha Council

The Yesha Council is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank , known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.The Chairman of the Yesha Council is Dani Dayan, elected in July 2007...

.

Geography

The municipal boundaries:

• North: the (former) communities of Ganim
  Ganim
  Ganim was a village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council....
  
   and Kadim
  Kadim
  Kadim |Jugs]]) was an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. In September 2005 its residents were evicted and IDF soldiers began dismantling Kadim as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.-References:...
  
  , reaching to Megiddo Junction
  Megiddo Junction
  The Megiddo Junction is an intersection of Highways 65 and 66 in northern Israel, located near kibbutz Megiddo. A major landmark is a large prison . Nearby are the sites of some ancient battles of Megiddo and the ruins of Megiddo .The five kilometre stretch of Highway 65 east towards Afula is...
  
  .
• West: the community of Tzofim, reaching to Kfar Sava.
• South: communities of Peduel
  Peduel
  Peduel , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, about 25 km east of Tel Aviv. The town, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Alei Zahav, Beit Aryeh-Ofarim and Bruchin...
  
   and Alei Zahav
  Alei Zahav
  Alei Zahav is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located on the western edge of the northern West Bank, about 20 km east of Tel Aviv, and overlooking Israel's main Ben Gurion International Airport...
  
  .

The Council is divided into geographic regions, where each region has its own characteristics:

• The Northern Shomron region: Hinanit
  Hinanit
  Hinanit is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. Hinanit is located just across the Green Line border with Israel in the northern West Bank's Jenin Governorate, and to the north abuts the Palestinian village of...
  
  , Hermesh
  Hermesh
  Hermesh is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the western Samarian hills of the West Bank. It falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council...
  
  , Tal Menashe
  Tal Menashe
  Tal Menashe , is a village and an Israeli settlement located on Mount Amir in the Samarian hills on the northwestern edge of the West Bank. The village, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Hinanit and Shaked. It was founded in 1999 on state...
  
  , Mevo Dotan
  Mevo Dotan
  Mevo Dotan is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern Samarian hills part of the West Bank south of the Dotan Valley within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It is named for being on the way to the ancient town of Dothan )...
  
  , Reihan
  Reihan
  Reihan is a moshav ovdim and Israeli settlement in the northwest edge of the West Bank, within the Shomron Regional Council. The moshav was established in 1977 as a Nahal outpost and populated in 1981 by civilian members of a Labour Zionist group...
  
  , Shaked
  Shaked
  Shaked is a surname, and may refer to:Places:* Shaked, a communal settlement in IsraelPeople:* Gershon Shaked , an Austrian-Israeli scholar and critic of Hebrew literature...
  
  . All the communities are secular, except for Tal Menashe. Population is around 2,000.
• Central-Western Shomron: Avnei Hefetz
  Avnei Hefetz
  Avnei Hefetz , is an Israeli settlement and a village located on the western edge of the northern West Bank. The village, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is located adjacent to Tulkarm, Einav and Sal'it...
  
  , Barkan
  Barkan
  Barkan , is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, about 25 km east of Tel Aviv and 8 km west of Salfit, under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics), the population was 1,200 at the end of 2004...
  
  , Ma'ale Shomron
  Ma'ale Shomron
  Ma'ale Shomron , is an Israeli settlement and communal village located about 300 metres above sea level in the northern West Bank in the Samarian hills under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council...
  
  , Nofim
  Nofim
  Nofim is an Israeli settlement located on the western edge of the northern West Bank, about 30 km east of Tel Aviv. The village, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Yakir. The Kana Stream passes to the north, west and south...
  
  , Sal'it
  Sal'it
  Sal'it is a moshav and Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the eastern Sharon plain around eight kilometres south of Tulkarm, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council...
  
  , Einav
  Einav
  Einav is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank. Located on Highway 57 between Avnei Hefetz and Shavei Shomron, the religious Zionist and Orthodox Jewish community is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. Established in 1981 with the...
  
  , Etz Efraim
  Etz Efraim
  Etz Efraim is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located between Ariel and Rosh HaAyin, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 679....
  
  , Peduel
  Peduel
  Peduel , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, about 25 km east of Tel Aviv. The town, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Alei Zahav, Beit Aryeh-Ofarim and Bruchin...
  
  , Tzufim, Kiryat Netafim
  Kiryat Netafim
  Kiryat Netafim is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank, about 30 km east of Tel Aviv, and under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council....
  
  , Revava
  Revava
  Revava , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains about 35 km east of Tel Aviv near Yakir and Nofim, on Road 5066 roughly between Barkan and Karnei Shomron. This Orthodox Jewish community, numbering about 250 families, is under the authority of...
  
  , Shavei Shomron
  Shavei Shomron
  Shavei Shomron is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, founded in 1977. Located to the west of Nablus on the road to Tulkarm, it is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. As of 2003, it had a population of 604, mostly religious...
  
  , Sha'arei Tikva
  Sha'arei Tikva
  Sha'arei Tikva is an Israeli settlement and a communal village located at an elevation of 200 metres north-east of Rosh HaAyin and one kilometre east of the Green Line near Elkana in the north-western West Bank...
  
  : mixed population (secular and religious). Most of the communities are large and well established. If you add to them the Local Authorities
  Local council (Israel)
  Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...
  
   in Samaria (Alfei Menashe
  Alfei Menashe
  Alfei Menashe is a Jewish Israeli settlement located in the seam zone on the western edge of the central West Bank. It was granted local council status in 1987. As of 2007, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics counts 6,200 residents...
  
  , Elkana
  Elkana
  Elkana or Elqana is an Israeli settlement and local council in the north-western Samarian hills in the West Bank. Elkana is situated just to the east of the Green Line and the city of Rosh HaAyin. The Trans-Samarian Highway previously cut through the town until 2000 when the road, which now skirts...
  
  , Immanuel
  Immanuel (town)
  Immanuel is an Israeli settlement and a town with local council status in the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics ,...
  
  , Karnei Shomron
  Karnei Shomron
  Karnei Shomron is an Israeli settlement and local council established in 1977 in the northwestern West Bank, east of Kfar Sava. It is north-east of Tel Aviv and north of Jerusalem. In 2006, the population of Karnei Shomron was 6,300...
  
  , 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...
  
  , Oranit
  Oranit
  Oranit is an Israeli settlement and local council located off Highway 5 adjacent to Kafr Qasim, north of Rosh HaAyin on the western edge of the West Bank. On the Seam Zone, a sizable amount of the town's land is located within the Green Line...
  
  ; and the city of Ariel
  Ariel (city)
  Ariel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank. Ariel was established in 1978. Its population at the end of 2009 was 17,600, including 7,000 immigrants who came to Israel after 1990. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement city in the West Bank., after Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit,...
  
  ), all of which are located in this region, the Jewish population numbers about 60,000.
• Mountain Communities: Elon Moreh
  Elon Moreh
  Elon Moreh is an Israeli settlement located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank northeast of Nablus on the slopes of the Mount Kabir ridge....
  
  , Itamar, Har Brakha
  Har Brakha
  Har Brakha is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located on the southern ridge of Mount Gerizim at an elevation of 870 metres above sea level, in the West Bank's Samarian mountains near Nablus...
  
  , 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...
  
   (one block, near 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...
  
  , population about 3,000), and farther south, Kfar Tapuach
  Kfar Tapuach
  Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
  
  , Rechalim, Nofei Nehemia and Migdalim
  Migdalim
  Migdalim is a village and an Israeli settlement located 45 kilometres east of Tel Aviv in the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank. It is situated on road 505, otherwise known as the Trans-Samaria Highway. The village lies adjacent to the Palestinian hamlet of...
  
  , with less than 1000 residents.

The West Bank Barrier is planned to enclose on the Israeli side all of the Central-Western Shomron settlements except for the three northernmost, Avnei Hefetz, Einav, and Shavei Shomron, and four Northern Shomron settlements (all the remaining ones other than the two southernmost, Hermesh and Mevo Dotan), but not any of the Mountain Communities.

List of settlements

• Alei Zahav
  Alei Zahav
  Alei Zahav is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located on the western edge of the northern West Bank, about 20 km east of Tel Aviv, and overlooking Israel's main Ben Gurion International Airport...
  
  
• Avnei Hefetz
  Avnei Hefetz
  Avnei Hefetz , is an Israeli settlement and a village located on the western edge of the northern West Bank. The village, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is located adjacent to Tulkarm, Einav and Sal'it...
  
  
• Barkan
  Barkan
  Barkan , is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, about 25 km east of Tel Aviv and 8 km west of Salfit, under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics), the population was 1,200 at the end of 2004...
  
  
• Bruchin
  Bruchin
  Brukhin , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains about thirty km east of Tel Aviv along the Trans-Samaria Highway near the Palestinian town Bruqin and between the Ariel and Rosh Ha'ayin Israeli settlements. Founded by Amishai Shav-Tal in...
  
  
• Einav
  Einav
  Einav is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank. Located on Highway 57 between Avnei Hefetz and Shavei Shomron, the religious Zionist and Orthodox Jewish community is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. Established in 1981 with the...
  
  
• Elon Moreh
  Elon Moreh
  Elon Moreh is an Israeli settlement located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank northeast of Nablus on the slopes of the Mount Kabir ridge....
  
  
• Etz Efraim
  Etz Efraim
  Etz Efraim is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located between Ariel and Rosh HaAyin, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 679....
  
  
• Har Bracha
• Hermesh
  Hermesh
  Hermesh is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the western Samarian hills of the West Bank. It falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council...
  
  
• Hinanit
  Hinanit
  Hinanit is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. Hinanit is located just across the Green Line border with Israel in the northern West Bank's Jenin Governorate, and to the north abuts the Palestinian village of...
  
  

• Itamar
  Itamar (town)
  Itamar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains five kilometers southeast of Nablus. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 1,032 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
  
  
• Kfar Tapuach
  Kfar Tapuach
  Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
  
  
• Kiryat Netafim
  Kiryat Netafim
  Kiryat Netafim is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank, about 30 km east of Tel Aviv, and under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council....
  
  
• Ma'ale Shomron
  Ma'ale Shomron
  Ma'ale Shomron , is an Israeli settlement and communal village located about 300 metres above sea level in the northern West Bank in the Samarian hills under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council...
  
  
• Mevo Dotan
  Mevo Dotan
  Mevo Dotan is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern Samarian hills part of the West Bank south of the Dotan Valley within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It is named for being on the way to the ancient town of Dothan )...
  
  
• Migdalim
  Migdalim
  Migdalim is a village and an Israeli settlement located 45 kilometres east of Tel Aviv in the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank. It is situated on road 505, otherwise known as the Trans-Samaria Highway. The village lies adjacent to the Palestinian hamlet of...
  
  
• Nofei Nehemiah
  Nofei Nehemiah
  Nofei Nehemia is an Israeli outpost east of Ariel in the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank. First established in 2002, it is situated adjacent to Rachelim on Route 60, between Kfar Tapuach and Eli. The village also lies adjacent to the Palestinian towns of...
  
  
• Nofim
  Nofim
  Nofim is an Israeli settlement located on the western edge of the northern West Bank, about 30 km east of Tel Aviv. The village, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Yakir. The Kana Stream passes to the north, west and south...
  
  
• Peduel
  Peduel
  Peduel , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, about 25 km east of Tel Aviv. The town, under the administrative municipal government of the Shomron Regional Council, is adjacent to Alei Zahav, Beit Aryeh-Ofarim and Bruchin...
  
  
• Rachelim
  Rachelim
  Rechelim is an Israeli outpost east of Ariel in the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank. It is situated on Route 60, between Kfar Tapuach and Eli. The village also lies adjacent to the Palestinian towns of Yatma and Qabalan. About 35 families live on the settlement...
  
  

• Reihan
  Reihan
  Reihan is a moshav ovdim and Israeli settlement in the northwest edge of the West Bank, within the Shomron Regional Council. The moshav was established in 1977 as a Nahal outpost and populated in 1981 by civilian members of a Labour Zionist group...
  
  
• Revava
  Revava
  Revava , is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains about 35 km east of Tel Aviv near Yakir and Nofim, on Road 5066 roughly between Barkan and Karnei Shomron. This Orthodox Jewish community, numbering about 250 families, is under the authority of...
  
  
• Sal'it
  Sal'it
  Sal'it is a moshav and Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the eastern Sharon plain around eight kilometres south of Tulkarm, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council...
  
  
• Sha'arei Tikva
  Sha'arei Tikva
  Sha'arei Tikva is an Israeli settlement and a communal village located at an elevation of 200 metres north-east of Rosh HaAyin and one kilometre east of the Green Line near Elkana in the north-western West Bank...
  
  
• Shaked
  Shaked
  Shaked is a surname, and may refer to:Places:* Shaked, a communal settlement in IsraelPeople:* Gershon Shaked , an Austrian-Israeli scholar and critic of Hebrew literature...
  
  
• Shavei Shomron
  Shavei Shomron
  Shavei Shomron is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, founded in 1977. Located to the west of Nablus on the road to Tulkarm, it is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. As of 2003, it had a population of 604, mostly religious...
  
  
• Tel Menashe
• Tzofim
  Tzofim (village)
  Tzofim , or Tzufin , is a communal village and Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, north of Alfei Menashe and Qalqilyah and northeast of Kfar Sava...
  
  
• Yakir
  Yakir (town)
  Yakir , is an Israeli settlement and a communal village located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains about 35 km east of Tel Aviv near Revava and Nofim, on Road 5066 roughly between Barkan and Karnei Shomron. Founded in February 1981, it sits at 420 metres above sea level and is under the...
  
  
• 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...
  
  

List of razed settlements

During the implementation of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...

 of August/September 2005, the residents of four of the Shomron Regional Council's settlements were evicted, their residential buildings destroyed, and land abandoned to the Palestinians, including territory outlined in 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...

 as Area 'C' in full Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i control. The Shomron Regional Council had been the largest Israeli regional council until the fall of 2005 when a large part of its municipal land was effectively abandoned.

In northern Shomron:
Ganim Ganim Ganim was a village and an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative local government of the Shomron Regional Council....	Homesh Homesh Homesh was an Israeli settlement in the northern Samarian Hills of the West Bank along Tulkarm and Route 60. The village fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...	Kadim Kadim Kadim |Jugs]]) was an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. In September 2005 its residents were evicted and IDF soldiers began dismantling Kadim as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.-References:...	Sa-Nur Sa-Nur Sa-Nur was an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. Prior to its demolition, Sa-nur was home to 43 families. In September 2005 its 105 residents were evicted and IDF soldiers began dismantling Sanur as part of Israel's...

Since summer 2007 members of Homesh First

Homesh First

Homesh First is a grassroots organization attempting to rebuild and resettle the Jewish community of Homesh.-History:Homesh First was formed after the homes of the Jewish residents of Homesh were razed and Jewish community was evicted as part of Israel's disengagement in August 2005...

have returned to the razed town on a regular basis, to guard the site and study the Torah. Their objective is to resettle the town and set an example for banished residents of the other Jewish towns of northern Shomron and Gush Katif.

External links

• Council website