Masua ( he, מַשּׂוּאָה, ''lit.'' Torch, ar, مسواه), also transliterated as Massu'a, 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
moshav shitufi in the
West Bank.
Located in the
Jordan Valley, with an area of 6,000
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, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council.
In it had a population of .
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank
illegal under international law, but the Israeli and US governments dispute this.
History
The village was established in 1969 as a
Nahal settlement
Nahal settlements ( he, היאחזות נח"ל, ''Heahzut Nahal'') were settlements established by Nahal soldiers in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Isra ...
, and was converted to a civilian moshav by a
HaOved HaTzioni gar'in five years later.
According to
ARIJ,
Israel has
confiscated 2,209
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 from the
Palestinian village of
Al-Jiftlik in order to construct Masua.
Sartava Nature Reserve
Four kilometers west-southwest of Masua is the Sartava Nature Reserve, named in tribute to a mountain from which, in Mishnaic times, Jews would relay signals via torch to indicate that a new month had been proclaimed.
The summit of Sartava has remains of a fort built by
King Alexander of
Judea. The area of Sartava, which is split down its length due to the
Great Rift Valley, is unique in that it embodies a transition between the Mediterranean habitats of
Samaria on the one hand and the more desert-like habitats of the
Arava on the other.
See also
*
Rosh Hodesh
References
{{Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council
Moshavim
Israeli settlements in the West Bank
Populated places established in 1969
1969 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate