Nadene Goldfoot
Calling Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as settlements is wrong. Settlements bring to mind our American pioneers building temporary dwellings in the West while they fight off the Indians. (a place, typically one that has hitherto been uninhabited, where people establish a community). The villages first established in Judea and Samaria are no longer settlements. They are full blown villages, towns and some even at city-size.
The situation is also different. In the American West, the pioneers who came out had never lived there before. They were either from the East Coast or directly from Europe. They had no connections or knowledge about Indians, their religion, their life.
You never hear of any Arab villages or towns or cities being called settlements. Most came after 1881 after the big immigration of Jews, looking for work as they heard that the Jews were building and they might get hired for that work. There had been some Arabs that were natives, but most all took advantage of the Jewish buyers of land and sold theirs at very high prices, and then they moved to Damascus, Paris, and other more populated places. They were tired of paying exorbitant taxes to the Ottoman Empire collectors.
Halamish, also known as Neveh Tzuf, was a community, a village of 280 families in August 2017 in the Samarian hills, the original land where the Biblical Israel was located. In 2019 it had a population of 1,485. Halamish is located off the main road between Ofra and Shilo. Halamish has been an easy target of arsonists and terrorists, however. It's an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, located in the southwestern Samarian hills to the north of Ramallah, an Arab community, 10.7 kilometers (6.648672 miles) east of the Green line. The Orthodox Jewish community was established in 1977. 45 years ago.
They had a tragedy there on July 21, 2017 when Yosef Salomon, 70, his daughter Chaya, 40, and his son, Elad 35, father of five were killed. Yosef's wife, Tova, was seriously wounded. That's 3 people killed by a terrorist. They had been celebrating the birth of Yosef's new grandson with his other son, Shmuel.
The terrorist, a member of a Hamas-affiliated family from the nearby Palestinian village of Kobar, a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern Samaria (West Bank), who .had been arrested several times before and was known to the security services. He posted a Facebook message boasting of his plans, but no one informed the police. That night, he climbed over the perimeter fence, attacked the Salomon family in their home, and was wounded by an off-duty soldier who lived nearby. In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kobar came under Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 934 inhabitants in Kaubar. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kobar has been under Israeli ruling.
After the 1995 accords, 53.7 % of village land belongs to Area B, which is to be populated by both Jews and Muslims, while the remaining 46.3 % is Area C. Area C is Jewish land according to the Oslo Accords.
In 2008, the Hamas preacher at the local mosque in Kobar, Majed Barghouti, 44, died while in detention. His relatives alleged that he had been tortured. Authorities confirmed the death of the 44-year-old Majed Barghouti at an intelligence lockup in Ramallah on Friday, a week after his arrest. This is an Hamas accusation. Israel did not torture him.
Ofra is a religious community-style yishuv with a population of 3,500,, a village located in the Binyamin Regional Council. It is just off of Highway 60. Ofra is about 20 km (12.4274 miles) north of Jerusalem, with an altitude of about 850 meters above sea level. The yishuv was established in 1975, 47 years ago, and named after the ancient Jewish town in the portion of the tribe of Binyamin, as mentioned in the book of Joshua, Chapter 18. So it's in the land allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin. It's mostly religious people who have moved to Judea and Samaria for their historical connection, land of our fathers.
Shiloh: A Bit of Background: Shiloh is a religious community-style yishuv established in 1978, 44 years ago. The original founders strived to establish a community that would live its life in the spirit of the Torah and continue the tradition of the spiritual center that existed in Shiloh during the period of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Shiloh is situated just east of the Jerusalem-Nablus road, 31 km (19.2625 miles) north of Jerusalem. It was identified unambiguously with Khirbet Seilun, based on the much detailed biblical description of the site: Named for ancient Shilo, Shiloh (/ˈʃaɪloʊ/; Hebrew: שִׁלֹה, שִׁלוֹ ,שִׁילֹה, and שִׁילוֹ variably; Arabic: شيلوه) was an ancient city and sanctuary in Samaria. According to the Hebrew Bible, Shiloh was the central sanctuary of the Israelites during the pre-monarchic period, before the First Temple in Jerusalem was built. It was the 1st cult center of the Israelite religion after the conquest of Canaan under Joshua which was 25 miles north of Jerusalem in the mountains of Ephraim. The Ark and Tabernacle were kept there during the period of the Judges, serving as a central national shrine.
There are currently about 400 families living in the yishuv,probably still a village, which serves as a regional center in terms of schools, agriculture, shopping and employment, for all of the smaller yishuvim in the area. The yishuv is a significant point of attraction for families interested in building their homes and joining the community, and it has been blessed with several construction initiatives that are expanding its borders. Shiloh has a daycare center, 6 kindergartens and a special education kindergarten, Mifgash - a therapy center, separate elementary schools for boys and girls, a Yeshiva high school for boys and an Ulpana for girls, a Yeshiva and a Kollel.
Yishuv, Ha-Yishuv, or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri is the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Israel prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. So Yishuv means the Jewish population living in Samaria before 1948, sort of like a Sabra is a person born in Israel, native-born. The Old Yishuv refers to all the Jews living in the Land of Israel before the first Zionist immigration wave (aliyah) of 1882, and to their descendants who kept the old, non-Zionist way of life until 1948.The Old Yishuv residents were religious Jews, living mainly in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron. There were smaller communities in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre, Nablus, Shfaram, and until 1779 also in Gaza. In the final centuries before modern Zionism, a large part of the Old Yishuv spent their time studying the Torah and lived off charity (halukka), donated by Jews in the Diaspora.
The term New Yishuv refers to those who adopted a new approach, based on economic independence and various national ideologies, rather than strictly religious reasons for settling in the "Holy Land", for Judea and Samaria were certainly part of the Holy Land that Britain was given the 30 year mandate for-to help the Jews create their Holy Land.
The precursors already began building homes outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem in the 1860s, followed soon after by the founders of the moshava of Petah Tikva, and fully getting in swing with the First Aliyah of 1882, followed by the founding of neighbourhoods and villages until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Even they haven't called themselves "settlements."
Resource:
The Jerusalem Report, August 21, 2017, magazine, p. 7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halamish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiloh_(biblical_city)#:~:text=Shiloh%20(%2F%CB%88%CA%83a%C9%AAl,Temple%20in%20Jerusalem%20was%20built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yishuv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hall
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13331522
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/vs/difference-between-a-city-and-a-town-defining-places.html
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