Carmel ( he, כרמל ''Karmel'') is an Israeli settlement and Religious

Moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...

in the south-east

Mount Hebron The Hebron Hills, also known as Mount Hebron ( ar, جبل الخليل, translit=Jabal al-Khalīl, he, הר חברון, translit=Har Hevron), are a mountain ridge, geographic region, and geologic formation, comprising the southern part of the J ...

(Har Hevron in Hebrew) area of 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 ...

, close to the Palestinian Bedouin from the village of

Umm al-Kheir Umm al-Khair ( ar, أم الخير) is a Palestinian village located in the Hebron Governorate of the southern West Bank. It is inhabited by five families, roughly 70 people.David Dean Shulman, 'On Being Unfree:Fences, Roadblocks and the Iron Cage ...

, who settled there several decades ago after Israel expelled them from the Arad desert, and who purchased the land from residents in the Palestinian village of Yatta. According to

David Shulman David Shulman (November 12, 1912 – October 30, 2004) was an American lexicographer and cryptographer. He contributed many early usages to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and is listed amon"Readers and contributors from collections" for the se ...

, Carmel lies on lands appropriated from the Bedouin of that village. It falls under the jurisdiction of the

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 ...

and associates ideologically with the Amana settlement movement. 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.

Etymology

The name Carmel was chosen due to the moshav's close proximity to the location of biblical

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

(). Carmel is mentioned in as a place where

Nabal According to the 1st Book of Samuel Chapter 25, Nabal ( ''Nāḇāl'', "fool") was a rich Calebite, described as harsh and surly. He is featured in a story in which he is threatened by David over an insult, and ultimately killed by God. Biblica ...

of Maon had property.

History

From biblical Carmel to 19th century

Moshav

The

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...

was founded in 1980, next to the land on which the Hadaleen Bedouin tribe live,Ilana Hammerman
'West Bank settlement is outdoing its neighboring Bedouin village,'

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

11 November 2011 as a Nahal military-establishment, and was "civilianized" in 1981. Reuta

Beth midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth kne ...

was established in 2001 which is also a

hesder yeshiva Hesder ( he, הסדר "arrangement"; also Yeshivat Hesder ) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework. The program all ...

. According to

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof w ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', writing in 2014, Carmel is "a lovely green oasis that looks like an American suburb. It has lush gardens, kids riding bikes and air-conditioned homes. It also has a gleaming, electrified poultry barn that it runs as a business."

'The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence,'
''The New York Times'' 30 June 2010.

Umm al-Kheir Bedouin village

The New York Times article compares the moshav with the Bedouin village next to it: "Beyond its barbed wire fencing, the Bedouins of

in shanties are denied connection to the electricity grid, barns for their livestock and toilets, and all attempts to build permanent dwellings are demolished. Elad Orian, an Israeli human rights activist, noted that the chickens of Carmel's poultry farm get more electricity and water than the Palestinian Bedouin nearby." Haaretz noted about this in 2011: "Right next to the stately country homes - complete with air-conditioning, drip-irrigation gardens and goldfish ponds - a few extended families including old men, old women and infants live in dwellings made of tin, cloth and plastic siding, though there are a few cinder-block structures, too. They tread on broken, barren ground. They have no running water. They are not connected to the power grid that lights up every settlement and outpost in this remote region. They have no access road."

Frictions between Arabs and Jews

In September 2022, two Arab terrorists entered the settlement and wounded a Jew. One of the terrorists was captured.West Bank: Shooting in Mount Hebron, civilian wounded
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References

{{Har Hevron Regional Council Populated places established in 1981 1981 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Israeli settlements in the West Bank