Ahiya (; also transliterated as Achiya or Achia) is an

Israeli outpost In Israeli law, an outpost (, ''Ma'ahaz'' lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israeli statutes ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, about 1.5 km southeast of the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village of

Jalud Jalud () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank. It is approximately south of Nablus and is situated just east of Qaryut, south of Qusra and northeast of Shilo, Mateh Binyamin, Shilo, an ...

. It falls under the purview of the

Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Mateh Binyamin Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Binyamin,'' Lit. Council for the Region of the Tribe of Benjamin) is a Regional Councils in Israel, regional council Local government in Israel, governing 47 Israeli settlements and Israe ...

. Israeli outposts are considered illegal both under international law as well as under Israeli law. It is named after the Biblical prophet

Ahijah the Shilonite Ahijah the Shilonite (; ) was a Levite prophet of Shiloh (biblical city), Shiloh in the days of Solomon, as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Books of Kings, First Books of Kings. Ahijah foretold to Jeroboam that he would become king (). The Hebre ...

who lived in Shiloh, which is about 3 km to its west.

Demographics

As of 2004 permanent construction of homes in Ahiya was being carried out. As of 2011 the population of Ahiya was about 50 people.

Geography

Ahiya is near the Israeli outpost of

Shvut Rachel Shvut Rachel () is a former Israeli settlement in the West Bank, retroactively designated a neighborhood of the settlement of Shilo, in the West Bank. Shvut Rachel sits between the Palestinian villages of Turmus Ayya, Qaryut and Jalud, part of ...

as well as the Palestinian village of

. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from the

villages of

and

Qusra Qusra (also Kusra) () is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, located 28 kilometers southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Qusra had a ...

in order to construct the

s of Ahiya and

Esh Kodesh Esh Kodesh () is an Israeli outpost in the West Bank near Shilo. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. Israeli outposts in the West Bank are considered illegal both under international law as well as under Is ...

Economy

Ahiya has the only Israeli owned oil press in the region. Settlers from the region bring their olives to Ahiya to be pressed.

Attacks against Palestinians

Palestinian farmers from nearby

have accused settlers from Ahiya of taking harvested olives from them by force. On 9 February 2011, Israeli settlers from Ahiya attacked Jalud, demanding residents evacuate their houses and physically attacking local residents.Armed settlers attack West Bank village
. ''

Ma'an News Agency Ma'an News Agency (MNA; ) is a large wire service created in 2005 in the Palestinian territories. It is part of the Ma'an Network, a non-governmental organization media network created in 2002 in the Palestinian territories among independent journ ...

''. 2011-02-09. Retrieved on 2012-02-21. In 2022, ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' reported that residents of Ahiya attacked the nearby

village of

with firebombs, torching cars and house yards, in what the Israeli newspaper called a "''pogrom''", "flaunt evil" and "

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

terror".

References

{{Judea and Samaria Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Israeli settlements in the West Bank Populated places established in 1997 Israeli outposts Unauthorized Israeli settlements