| Karmei Tzur | |
| Hebrew | כַּרְמֵי צוּר |
| Name meaning | Vineyards of Rock |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founded by | Residents of Alon Shvut |
| Council | Gush Etzion |
| Region | West Bank |
| District | Judea and Samaria Area |
| Coordinates | |
| Population | 725 (2010 [1]) |
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Karmei Tzur
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| Website | http://www.carmatz.com |
Karmei Tzur, or Carmei Tzur (Hebrew: כַּרְמֵי צוּר) is a communal settlement and Israeli settlement in the West Bank located north of Hebron in the Judean hills between the Palestinian towns Beit Ummar and Halhul. The National Religious community with a population of 725 (2010) is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Gush Etzion Regional Council.[2] Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Karmei Tzur was designated Area "C" under full Israeli civil and security control.[3]
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[4]
According to a Peace Now-report of 2006, 27 percent of the land Karmei Tzur is built on, is privately owned, all or most of it by Palestinians.[5] According to Israeli law, settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal.[6]
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Karmei Tzur, meaning “Vineyards (or Olive Groves) of Rock” or “Stalwart Vineyards”,[7] was established in 1984 by a group of students from the Har Etzion Yeshiva in Alon Shvut, and was named after the nearby Hasmonean fortress of Beth-Zur.
Karmei Tzur is situated east of the Israel-Westbank separation barrier, 8.3 kilometers from the Green line[2] in the Judean hills north of Hebron, 22 kilometers from Jerusalem. The settlement has a total area of about 420.000 square meters.[2]
There are about 120 families living in the settlement with more than 700 people in total. This includes 13 families living in the adjacent Tzur Shalem outpost and eight immigrant families of Inca Jews from Trujillo, Peru, who have been housed there as part of an absorption program. The settlement is home to Yeshiva students, educators, academics, army officers, traders, and doctors. Most of the residents work in Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba, or Jerusalem.
Local children are educated within the settlement until they reach school age. School children are transported to schools in the centre of Gush Etzion. There is a wide variety of after school activities provided in the settlement.
Karmei Tzur has an outpost, Tzur Shalem, considered illegal also by Israeli law.[8] It was established in 2001 in memory of Dr. Shmuel Gillis, a senior physician at the Hadassah Medical Center and resident of Karmei Tzur of English origins who was killed after Palestinians shot him while driving home on February 1, 2001 during the Second Intifada.[9] The name was chosen by Gillis′ widow. “Shalem”, meaning “whole”, shares some of the letters of Gillis′ first name “Shmuel”, and the word “tzur”, meaning “rock”, is one of the names for God and also symbolizes strength and steadfastness.[10] The outpost with more than twenty caravans and 13 families is located to the west of Karmei Tzur and has views of the Shephelah Region.
In June 2002 Hamas terrorists, possibly assisted by Islamic Jihad men,[11] infiltrated the Tzur Shalem outpost and killed Ayal Sorek and his 9-month-pregnant wife Yael along with reserve soldier Shalom Mordechai from Nahariya.[12]
In 2007, Israeli, Palestinian and international activists blocked the road to Karmei Tzur with barbed wire in protest of the limitations of movement imposed upon the Palestinians in the area.[13]
As B'Tselem reports, in October 2011, settlers from Karmei Tzur attacked residents of the Palestinian village Beit Ummar who demonstrated against the theft of their land for the benefit of Karmei Tzur and against denial of their access to the land forming the so called “special security area” (SSA), a buffer strip that surrounds the settlement without being part of the settlement. The SSA around Karmei Tzur is primarily composed of privately-owned land of Palestinian residents of Beit Ummar and Halhul. Settlers can enter these areas freely, while the Palestinian landowners must obtain special permits to enter, and these are given sparingly. During the demonstration, settlers entered the SSA and threw stones at the Palestinian demonstrators outside it, assisted by armed security and military personnel.[14]
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