Itamar

Itamar (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר‎‎) 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 (2009) is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] Settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal according to international and Israeli law.^[4] The settlement has several outposts and covers a total area of approximately 7,000 dunams of land.^[5]

Itamar's residents have been the target of several deadly attacks by Palestinian militants,^[6] and the UN and NGOs report an extensive number of violent acts by Israeli settlers from Itamar and its outposts against local Palestinians.^[7]

History

The settlement was established in 1984 by several families from the Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem with the assistance of Gush Emunim's settlement organization Amana.^[8] 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.^[9]

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,^[1] predominantly strictly religious - most of them newly religious - Jewish settlers.^[10]

Geography

Itamar is situated east of the Israel-Westbank separation barrier, 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,^[7] and block the development of the Palestinian town of Beit Furik, according to a report by Israeli human rights organization B'tselem.^[5]

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.^[11] Five of these outposts were approved by former prime minister Ehud Barak in 2000.^[12] At the time, a master plan gave the settlement a total area of some 6,000 dunams.^[13] Of the 4,780 dunams of land Itamar proper sits on, 45 percent is privately owned (presumably) Palestinian land, according to Peace Now.^[4]

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.^[14]

There are several businesses in the settlement, and many of the residents grow organic crops and raise sheep and goats;^[15] larger farms produce a range of further products, such as cheese and olive oil.^[16]

Education

Itamar's educational system includes kindergarten, 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,^[17] and the Itamar Hesder yeshiva founded by Rabbi Brigadier General Avichai Ronsky, IDF Chief Rabbi from 2006 till 2010.^[18]

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Itamar and its residents have repeatedly been the target of murderous attacks by Palestinian terrorists,^[19] 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."^[5]

Jewish victims

Residents of Itamar who were killed in attacks outside the settlement include Gilad Zar (41) and Eliyahu Asheri (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.^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^[23][24] 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.^[25]

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).^[26][27] Two Palestinian teenagers from the village of Awarta arrested in April have confessed to the murder.^[28]

Palestinian victims

The IDF prohibit Palestinian farmers from working at their fields close to the settlement and are required to protect them during the olive harvest.^[29] 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,^[30] prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching their land, even when accompanied by international activists,^[31] shot at farmers picking their olives,^[32] or grazing their animals.^[33] It is alleged that they have set fire to hundreds of olive trees and thousands of dunam of cultivated land belonging to local Palestinians.^[34][35] 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.^[36]

In some cases, the violence has resulted in death. Among the victims are Farid Musa Issa Nasasrah (28) from Beit Furik and Hani Bani Maniya (22) from Aqraba.^[37] 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".^[38] Maniya was killed and two others were wounded in a similar attack in October 2002, while harvesting olives near the village of Aqraba.^[39] In September 2004, Itamar resident Yehoshua Elitzur shot and killed Sa'il Mustafa Ahmad Jabarah (46),^[37] 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.^[40]

References

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