Alon or Allon () is an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

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 ...

, organized as a

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

. Alon is located to the east of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, next to 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 ...

town of 'Anata, part of whose lands were expropriated to build Alon. Situated along the edge of the Judean desert, the settlement has a diverse religiously observant and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

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

History

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 328

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of land from the

town of 'Anata in order to construct Alon.'Anata Town Profile
Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem. 21 July 2004. Named after Yigal Allon, it was founded in 1990 by a number of area residents under the aegis of the Amana settlement organisation, it was originally considered to be part of nearby Kfar Adumim so as to minimise opposition in an atmosphere in which the question of settlement was becoming increasingly controversial. Children study in a mixed secular/observant public-religious school in nearby Kfar Adumim, and attend highschool in Jerusalem. Alon was one of a number of settlements linked by a road secretly built by settlers in 1995. The road links the settlement of Almon to the settlements of Kfar Adumim, Nofei Prat, and Alon. According to Pinhas Wallerstein, then head 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 ...

, 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 told by the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. 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 in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Gallery

File:שלט הכניסה ליישוב אלון.jpg, The entrance to the settlement File:ALON211).JPG, Southern side of the settlement File:Mitspe Orit.jpg, "Orit" lookout spot, located near the settlement

References

External links

{{Authority control Mixed Israeli settlements Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Populated places established in 1990 1990 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank