Otniel ( he, עָתְנִיאֵל) is an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

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

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 in the southern

Judaean Mountains The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...

, south of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Har Hevron Regional Council The Har Hevron Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית הר חברון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Har Hevron'') is an Israeli regional council in the southern Judean Hills area of Mount Hebron, in the southern West Bank, administering Israeli settle ...

. 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

The settlement was established in 1983 south of

Beit Hagai Beit Hagai ( he, בֵּית חַגַּי, ar, بيت حجاي), also Hagai, is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement located in the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank. The settlement population was 460 in 2004, according ...

and north of

Shim'a Shim'a ( he, שִׁמְעָה), also Yonadav ( he, יוֹנָדָב), is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, along the Green Line south of Livne and Teneh Omarim. Located on a hill 600 metres above sea level, it is organised as a community s ...

and 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 ...

villages of

as-Samu As Samu' or es-Samu' ( ar, السموع) () is a town in the Hebron Governorate of the West Bank, Palestine, 12 kilometers south of the city of Hebron and 60 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. Geography The area is a hilly, rocky area cut by so ...

, Yatta and

ad-Dhahiriya Ad-Dhahiriya (also Az-Zahiriya) ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Palestinian city in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, 23 km southwest of the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau o ...

. The settlement is named after the Biblical judge Otniel Ben Knaz.

Status under international law

The international community considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank 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 ...

Arab-Israeli conflict

In December 2002, four students were killed and ten were wounded by Palestinian gunmen in a shooting attack on the yeshiva. In November 2011, an Otniel resident, Rabbi Dan Mertzbach, was killed, and two women were wounded, when 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 ...

patrol, on alert for suspected militants, fired on their car as they drove to the

Cave of the Patriarchs , alternate_name = Tomb of the Patriarchs, Cave of Machpelah, Sanctuary of Abraham, Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of Abraham) , image = Palestine Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg , alt = , caption = Southern view of the complex, 2009 , map ...

to pray in the early hours of the morning. In January 2016, a Palestinian entered the home of a woman and stabbed her to death in front of her three children. In July 2016, Michael Marc, a resident of Otniel, was killed and members of his family wounded in a drive-by shooting at Adorayim junction near Otniel and Hevron. The shooter, Muhammad Faqih (aged 29) from

Dura Dura may also refer to: Đura such as, for example, Đura Bajalović Geography * Dura language, a critically endangered language of Nepal * Dura, Africa, an ancient city and former bishopric, now a Catholic titular see * Dura-Europos, an ancient c ...

, was later arrested.

Notable residents

Yehuda Glick Yehudah Joshua Glick (; born 20 November 1965), alternatively spelled "Yehuda Glick", is an American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi, activist, and politician. As the President of Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, he campaigns for expanding Jewish access ...

(b. 1965), rabbi and activist *

Yakov Nagen Yakov Meir Nagen (born June 17, 1967; Hebrew: יעקב מאיר נגן) is an Israeli rabbi and author. Nagen is a leader in interfaith dialogue and in particular interfaith peace initiatives between Judaism and Islam. He is the Director of the B ...

(b. 1967), rabbi and activist

Notable people

Re'em Ha'Cohen Rabbi Re'em HaCohen (Hebrew: רא''ם הכהן; born 1 March 1957; 25 Adar I 5717) is an Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi. HaCohen is the Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Otniel (together with Rabbi Binyamin Kalmanzon) and the rabbi of the Israeli set ...

(b. 1957), Rabbi of Otniel

References

External links

*
Website of the Hesder Yeshiva in Otniel
{{Har Hevron Regional Council Religious Israeli settlements Populated places established in 1983 1983 establishments in the Palestinian territories Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank