Ma'ale Levona ( he, מַעֲלֵה לְבוֹנָה, lit. ''Ascent of

Frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species o ...

'') is an

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 ...

organized as a community settlement in the West Bank. Located to the south-east of Ariel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. 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 valley may be named for the

frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species o ...

grown there in Biblical days for the incense used in the Tabernacle of near-by Shiloh. There was an Israelite village on the edge of the valley that also bore the name " Levonah" ( Judges 21:19). The name of that ancient site is preserved in the name of the Palestinian village

Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya ( ar, اللبّن الشرقية) is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located 20 kilometers south of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine. The town has a total land area of 12,075 d ...

(Eastern Lubban), on part of whose land Ma'ale Levona is constructed.

History

Antiquity

Ma'ale Levona overlooks the ancient

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

noteworthy as the site of the Battle of Wadi Haramia, the first battle of the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees ( he, מַכַּבִּים, or , ; la, Machabaei or ; grc, Μακκαβαῖοι, ), were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. ...

against the Selucids.What Judea & Samaria Mean to the Jewish People
/ref> The mountain pass, the "Ascent of Levonah" is to the east of the village, and links the Levonah valley to its north with the Shiloh valley to its south. Judah Maccabee killed the Samarian mysarch Apollonius in this battle, taking his sword for himself.

Modern era

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from 3 neighbouring Palestinian villages in order to construct Ma'ale Levona: *447

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s from

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

, *229 dunams from

, *72 dunams from Abwein.‘Abwein Town Profile
ARIJ, p. 17 Ma'ale Levona was initially established as a

Nahal Nahal ( he, נח"ל) (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training ...

outpost. It later became a civilian settlement under the municipal jurisdiction of the

Matte Binyamin Regional Council Mateh Binyamin Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית מטה בנימין, ''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 Isra ...

. It is located in the northern West Bank, in the Shilo- Eli bloc near Ariel. Ma'ale Levona is home to around 120 families.

References

{{Matte Binyamin Regional Council Religious Israeli settlements Nahal settlements Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Populated places established in 1983 1983 establishments in the Palestinian territories Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank