Nofei Prat ( he, נוֹפֵי פְּרָת, ''lit.'' Prat Scenes) 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

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. ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

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 2006 there were around 90 families living in the settlement. In 2009 about 140 families lived there. Both religious and secular families live in Nofei Prat. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

The village was established in 1992 by a group of settlers from

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

. It was named after the nearby Prat Stream. On the morning after the elections for the thirteenth Knesset and

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The pa ...

victory and before transition of power was made, a mixed group of mostly single religious and non-religious students from the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

drove east from

to a barren hilltop with a plan to create a mixed community. They erected a flimsy structure which would later that day be followed by twenty-seven

trailers Trailer may refer to: a Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers ** Full-trailer ** Semi-trailer **Horse trailer ...

Legal Status

Nofei Prat is widely regarded by the international community as illegal under international law according to the Fourth Geneva Convention (article 49), which prohibits an occupying power transferring citizens from its own territory to occupied territory. Israel maintains that international conventions relating to occupied land do not apply to the West Bank because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state in the first place. This view was 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 ...

. According to the ARIJ, Nofei Prat is located on land confiscated from the Palestinian 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 According to

Geoffrey Aronson Geoffrey Aronson is a writer and analyst, specializing in Middle East affairs. He was the director for Foundation for Middle East Peace and the editor of the bimonthly ''Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories ...

, Nofei Prat was established as a neighborhood of the settlement of

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 ...

in order to circumvent a promise to not construct new settlements.

Transportation

Nofei Prat was one of a number of settlements linked by a road secretly built by settlers in 1995. The road links

Anatot Almon ( he, עַלְמוֹן), also known as Anatot ( he, עֲנָתוֹת), is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the West Bank. Located near Jerusalem, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Cou ...

, Nofei Prat, and Alon, Mateh Binyamin, Alon. According to Pinhas Wallerstein, then head of the

, the road was one of a number of secretly built roads under 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 Israel Defense Forces 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."

Design

The settlement's master plan and its first 33 houses were designed by Jerusalem architect Marcy Goldwasser.

References

{{Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank Populated places established in 1992 Mateh Binyamin Regional Council 1992 establishments in the Palestinian territories