Givat Harel () 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 ...

, built as an illegal outpost in 1998 and legalized in 2023 by the Israeli government. The settlement was illegally established in 1998 mostly on

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 ...

private lands. It falls under the jurisdiction 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 ...

in the northern

, north of Nahal Shilo. Givat Harel is situated just off Highway 60 (Israel-Palestine), next to the

village of

Sinjil Sinjil () is a Palestinian town northeast of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the central West Bank. Location Sinjil is located north-east of Ramallah. It is bordered by Turmus ayya to the east, ...

, whose lands were "forcefully seized by

Israeli settlers Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

" in order to construct Givat Harel. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. In February 2023 the Israeli government approved the legalization of Givat Harel, and 8 other settlements and does not consider them illegal settlements. As part of the legalization Givat Harel and Givat HaRoeh, which also was an outpost before the 2023 legalization were unified into a new settlement called "".

Name

Givat Harel means Harel's Heights or Hill in Hebrew. The outpost was named after Harel bin Nun, son of Rabbi Elhanan bin Nun , former rabbi of the nearby Shiloh settlement, who was killed along with Shlomo Liebman on August 4th, 1998. After the funeral it was decided to establish an agricultural settlement in Harel's memory.

History

According to ARIJ, land was "forcefully seized by

" from the

village of

in order to construct Givat Harel.Sinjil Town Profile
ARIJ, p. 18 The road to Givat Harel was paved by the

Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

government when

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

served as minister of national infrastructures.Between Samaria & Gaza

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...

In July 2012, the IDF fired into the air to disperse settlers from Givat Harel and Palestinians from the neighboring town of

. A clash erupted when settlers met for prayers at the entrance to the town. The settlers say that Sinjil villagers are farming state land in an attempt to take control of it, while the authorities maintain that the property belongs to Sinjil.

References

External links

Givat Harel websiteGivat Harel altar (Hebrew)
{{coord, 32, 3, 32, N, 35, 16, 24, E, display=title Religious Israeli settlements Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Populated places established in 1998 Israeli settlements in the West Bank Unauthorized Israeli settlements