Almon ( he, עַלְמוֹן), also known as Anatot ( he, עֲנָתוֹת), 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 ...

organized as a

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

in the

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 ...

. Located near

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of the

Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Mateh Binyamin Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית מטה בנימין, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Binyamin,'' Lit. Council for the Region of the Tribe of Benjamin) is a regional council governing 46 Israeli settlements and outposts in th ...

. In it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

According to ARIJ, Almon is located on 783

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s of land which Israel confiscated from 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 ...

town of

'Anata Anata ( ar, عناتا) is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate in the central West Bank, located four kilometers northeast of Jerusalem's Old City. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 'Anata had a population of ...

. 'Anata Town Profile
ARIJ, 2012, p. 19 Anatot was established in 1982 by secular families with the help of the Amana organisation. It was named Anatot after the Kohanic city of

Anathoth Anathoth is the name of one of the Levitical cities given to "the children of Aaron" in the tribe of Benjamin (; ). Residents were called Antothites or Anetothites. Name The name of this town may be derived from a Canaanite goddess, `Anat. It i ...

mentioned in the

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...

1:1. The later name Almon has its origins in the Bible (Joshua 21:18, here mentioned together with Anatot). The original biblical site of Almon is believed to lay on the adjacent mountain, southwest of Almon, in what is called ''Khirbet Almit'', based on the testimony of a Jewish pilgrim to the region in 1850. Until 1990, Anatot was the site of an

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) detention center. It was closed on February 7, 1990, after the

Association for Civil Rights in Israel The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) (Hebrew: ; Arabic: ) was created in 1972 as an independent, non-partisan not-for-profit organization with the mission of protecting human rights and civil rights in Israel and the territories unde ...

petitioned the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

to shut down the jail because of inhumane conditions there. The IDF closed the facility voluntarily before the High Court could rule on the petition.

Land disputes

According to one

Ta'ayush Ta'ayush ( he, תעאיוש, ar, تعايش; lit. "coexistence" or "life in common") is a grassroots volunteer organization established in the fall of 2000 by a joint network of Palestinian People, Palestinians and Israelis to counter the nation ...

source, the settlement is built on the property of an Israeli Arab citizen, Abu Salah al Rifai. Anatot settlers claim that they have been subject to harassment by activists, while Ta'ayush members and other activists claim they suffered attacks by large numbers of settlers from the township while trying to assist a local Palestinian in protecting his property. Anatot is the site of one of many quarries operated by Israeli companies in the West Bank.

Yesh Din Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights ( he, יש דין) is an Israeli organization working in Israel and in the West Bank. The organization was founded in 2005 by a group of women who previously worked with the organization Machsom Watch. The p ...

legal counsel Michael Sfard said that "according to international law, so long as the West Bank is not annexed to Israel, it is forbidden for Israel to exploit the natural resources there for non-security related purposes." Sfard also stated that 74% of the gravel mined from these quarries is used for construction inside Israel, and that that means the existence of the quarries violates international law. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Israeli quarries in the West Bank are legal.

Geography

Almon is located on a hill near the ruins of the Hariton Monastery and the Prat Stream, between

, (

Pisgat Ze'ev Pisgat Ze'ev ( he, פסגת זאב, lit. ''Ze'ev's Peak'') is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the ci ...

), and

Ma'ale Adumim Ma'ale Adumim ( he, מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; ar, معالي أدوميم) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. ...

Kfar Adumim Kfar Adumim ( he, כְּפַר אֲדֻמִּים. ''lit.'' Village of The Red) is a mixed religious-secular Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is located in the Judean Desert, on the southern bank of Wadi Qelt, about 2 miles northeast of t ...

. It is close to the Palestinian villages

and

Hizma Hizma ( ar, حزما; is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate, seven kilometers from Jerusalem's Old City. The town, mostly located in Area C of the West Bank, borders four Israeli settlements, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Ze'ev (both offi ...

Transport

Almon is connected to Jerusalem and

Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

via Road 437. Buses are the only form of public transport available, entering the village eleven times per workday. Anatot was one of a number of settlements linked by a road secretly built by settlers in 1995. The road links Anatot to

Nofei Prat Nofei Prat ( he, נוֹפֵי פְּרָת, ''lit.'' Prat Scenes) is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement (Israel), community settlement in the West Bank. Located near Ma'ale Adumim, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Bi ...

, and

Alon Alon or ALON may refer to: * Alon (name), an Israeli given name and surname * Alon, Mateh Binyamin, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank * Alon Inc, an American airplane builder, known for the Alon A-4 * Alon USA, an American energy company * Alu ...

. According to Pinhas Wallerstein, then head of the

, the road was one of a number under clandestine construction in the area. Wallerstein claimed that as council head, he did not need permission to construct roads, but that he would stop construction if the

told him to. He also said "What are they going to do, tell us to take the road away? If the road is illegal let them take us to court."

Legal status

The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the

Fourth Geneva Convention The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in Augus ...

's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

and the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

In popular culture

The 1988

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

movie ''

Steal the Sky ''Steal the Sky'' is a 1988 HBO movie directed by John D. Hancock and starring Mariel Hemingway and Ben Cross. The film is based on the true story of Iraqi fighter pilot Munir Redfa, who defected by flying a MiG-21 fighter jet to Israel in 1966. ' ...

'', starring

Mariel Hemingway Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in ...

and

Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (16 December 1947 – 18 August 2020) was an English stage and film actor. He was best known for playing Billy Flynn in the original West End production of the musical ''Chicago'', and his portrayal of the British Ol ...

, was partially filmed in Anatot, which was used as a location substitute for

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. The producer bought war insurance which covered the production for up to $2 million in case the production was disrupted by the Arab-Israeli conflict.

References

External links

Town website

Anatot winery : Israeli wine from anatot village
{{Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Non-religious Israeli settlements Populated places established in 1982 Mateh Binyamin Regional Council 1982 establishments in the Palestinian territories Community settlements