Irus () is a

community settlement A community settlement (, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of town or village in Israel and in the West Bank. In an ordinary town, anyone may buy property, but in a community settlement, the village's residents are organized in a cooperative an ...

in central

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located to the south of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

and west of

Nes Ziona Ness Ziona (, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a city in Central District, Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams (). Identification Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of the Arab village of Sarafand al-K ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Gan Raveh Regional Council Gan Raveh Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Ezorit Gan Raveh'') is a regional council in the Central Coastal Plain region of the Central District of Israel. The council's area of jurisdiction extends to nine settlements: a kibbutz, six moshavim, a ...

. In it had a population of .

Etymology

The village was named after the iris plant indigenous to the area.Waste Not, Want Not
Haaretz, 17 September 2007

History

Bulgarian Jews The history of the Jews in Bulgaria goes back almost 2,000 years. Jews have had a continuous presence in historic Bulgarian lands since before the 2nd century CE, and have often played an important part in the history of Bulgaria. Today, th ...

who were members of the

Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

purchased 388

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of land in the 1920s, with the objective of creating a village in which they could settle. However, the plans were not followed through. In 1985 the national council zoned the land for residential use, but their decision was opposed by the regional council. Permits were granted to build a village in 1998, but further objections by the regional council to the plans led to a 17-year delay in construction.Death by a Thousand Snags
Haaretz, 18 July 2011 The plans were finally approved by a District Court in 2011, with the judge stating "I hope this ruling will be end of the story for this 60 year ordeal." The village was established in 2013.

References

{{Gan Raveh Regional Council Bulgarian-Jewish culture in Israel Community settlements Populated places in Central District (Israel) Populated places established in 2013 2013 establishments in Israel