| Halamish | ||
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| Founded | November 1, 1977 | |
| Founded by | Gush Emunim | |
| Council | Mateh Binyamin | |
| Region | West Bank | |
| Affiliation | Amana | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Population | 1054 (2009) | |
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Halamish
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| Website | Neve Tzuf Halamish | |
Halamish (Hebrew: חַלָּמִישׁ. lit. Flint), also known as Neveh Tzuf (Hebrew: נווה צוף, lit. Nectar Home), is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, located in the southwestern Samarian hills to the north of Ramallah, 10.7 kilometers east of the Green line. The Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 1,054 (2009) was established in 1977. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.[1]
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[2]
According to a Peace Now-report of 2006, 33 percent of the land Neveh Tzuf is built on, is privately owned, all or most of it by Palestinians.[3] According to Israeli law, settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal.[4]
The settlement of Neveh Tzuf has several outposts,[5] and is home to the religious pre-army Mechina Elisha.[6]
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On 16 October 1977, two groups of settlers, one religious, calling itself “Neveh Tzuf” and one secular, called “Neveh Tzelah” with a total of 40 families moved into the abandoned former British Tegart fort building near the Palestinian village Nabi Salih.[7] After months of harsh living conditions and after the murder of a Jew at the entrance to the settlement, only seven of the original settlers remained.
The original name of the settlement, Neveh Tzuf, was rejected by the government naming committee, arguing that it might be misleading since the biblical location, Eretz Tzuf, was elsewhere. The naming committee gave the new settlement the official name 'Halamish' instead, and since this was rejected by the settlers, both names are used for the settlement.[7]
Residents of the nearby Palestinian village Deir Nidham went to the Supreme Court of Israel and claimed ownership of the Havlata Hill, which is now in the centre of Halamish. Based on aerial photos from the turn of the 20th century, showing the disputed land to be barren, and Ottoman Empire land law specifying that land not worked for over ten years becomes state land, the land on that hill was declared state land and freed for settlement constructions. This court ruling became the precedent for future land ownership disputes.[8]
The residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Nabi Salih regularly protest the seizure of their land by the settlers of Halamish.[9]
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