Barkan ( he, בַּרְקָן) is an
Israeli settlement
Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...
in the northern
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, about 8 km west of the
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
city of
Salfit
Salfit ( ar, سلفيت) pronounced "Salfeet" is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, and the capital of the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine. Salfit is located at an altitude of , adjacent to the Israeli settleme ...
, under the administrative local government of the
Shomron Regional Council
The Shomron Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית שומרון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shomron'', English ''Samaria Regional Council'') is an Israeli regional council in the northern portion of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thirty-five Isra ...
. In its population was .
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank
illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.
History
Founded in June 1981 by secular Israelis from the
Beitar
The Betar Movement ( he, תנועת בית"ר), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. Chapters sprang up across Europe, even during World War II. After ...
and
Herut
Herut ( he, חֵרוּת, ''Freedom'') was the major conservative nationalist political party in Israel from 1948 until its formal merger into Likud in 1988. It was an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.
History
Herut was founded by Menachem Begin ...
movements, Barkan is part of a chain of settlements built along the
Trans-Samaria Highway, and adjacent to the
Barkan Industrial Park
The Barkan Industrial Park ( he, איזור התעשיה ברקן, lit. Barkan Industrial Area) is located about 25 kilometres east of Tel Aviv in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġa ...
. The park, established in 1982, has 120 businesses and factories manufacturing plastics, metal-work, food, textile, and more. Of the 5,000 workers, 90% are
Palestinian Arabs
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
.
According to
ARIJ, Israel
confiscated
Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, o ...
land from two
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
villages in order to construct Barkan: 167
dunams
A dunam (Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic language, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman units of measurement, Ottoman unit of area eq ...
from
Qarawat Bani Hassan
Qarawat Bani Hassan ( ar, قراوة بني حسان) is a Palestinian town in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine, located thirty kilometers southwest of Nablus and 8 kilometers northwest of Salfit in the northern West Bank. Accordin ...
,
[Qarawat Bani Hassan Town Profile]
ARIJ, p. 17 and 353 dunams from
Sarta
Sarta ( ar, سرطّه) is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, 22 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 3,382 in 2 ...
.
"Barkan" is called after the Hebrew name of the
Syrian thistle. The original name of the town was Beit Abba after
Abba Ahimeir
Abba Ahimeir ( he, אב"א אחימאיר, russian: Аба Шойл Гайсинович; 2 November 1897 – 6 June 1962) was a Russian-born Jewish journalist, historian, and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, ...
, a leader of the
Lehi.
Archaeology
An
archeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
east of the town contains remnants of an
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
settlement during the time of the first and second
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
.
See also
*
Barkan Industrial Park
The Barkan Industrial Park ( he, איזור התעשיה ברקן, lit. Barkan Industrial Area) is located about 25 kilometres east of Tel Aviv in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġa ...
References
External links
Menachem Brody's photos of Barkan
{{Shomron Regional Council
Non-religious Israeli settlements
Populated places established in 1981
1981 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate
Israeli settlements in the West Bank