Rotem () 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 ...

. Located in the northern Jordan River Valley along the

Allon Road Allon Road is the name given by Israel to Routes 458, 508, and 578 in the West Bank, running roughly south–north along the eastern watershed of the Judaean Mountains, Judaean and Samarian Hills, between Highway 1 (Israel), Highway 1 near Kfa ...

south-west of

Shadmot Mehola Shadmot Mehola () is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, organized as a national-religious moshav shitufi.Shadmot M ...

,Rotem
Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council it falls under the jurisdiction of

Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Bik'at HaYarden'', ''lit.'' Jordan Valley Regional Council), also Aravot HaYarden (''lit.'' Jordan Plains), is a regional council covering 21 Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley in the ...

. In it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

History

Rotem was first established as a pioneer

Nahal Nahal () (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 in entrepr ...

military outpost and later abandoned. Several failed attempts were made to try a reestablish either a military or civilian presence at the site. The current initiative was established in 2001. The village prides itself on being a joint non-

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

and Orthodox community, inhabited by both religious and non-religious Jews.

Eco-Settlement

Rotem presents itself as an

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

settlement with a focus on

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

infrastructure. Most of the homes are not connected to a sewer system and rely on such solutions as cesspools, devices that purify wastewater and experimental systems developed at the Technion for treating sewage and converting it into an energy source. However, others argue that the settlement's environmentalism is a tool for colonisation, in particular as Palestinian villages are not permitted to build their own eco-friendly and sustainable infrastructure. In the nearby Bedouin village of Khirbet Humsa, the civil administration destroyed the only solar panels providing electricity to the village. These solar panels had been constructed due to the Israeli authorities' prevention of access to the Israeli electricity grid by Bedouin villagers.'Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says, Guardian'
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References

{{Authority control Mixed Israeli settlements Nahal settlements Ecovillages Populated places established in 1983 Community settlements 1983 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Israeli settlements in the West Bank

History

Eco-Settlement

See also

References