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Itamar Template:Hebrew
Country	Israel
Council	Shomron
Region	West Bank
Founded	1984
Founded by	Amana
Population	1,032

Itamar (Template:Lang-he-n) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains five kilometers southeast of Nablus, 28 kilometers east of the Green line. The Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 1,032 (2009) is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Itamar was designated Area "C" under full Israeli civil and security control.

According to a Peace Now-report of 2006, 45 percent of the land Itamar is built on, is privately owned, all or most of it by Palestinians. According to Israeli law, settlements on privately owned Palestinian land are illegal.

The settlement of Itamar has several outposts, five of them were approved by former prime minister Ehud Barak in 2000. The total area of Itamar and its outposts covers approximately 7,000 dunams of land.

History

The settlement was established in 1984 by several families from the Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem with the assistance of Gush Emunim's settlement organization Amana. Originally named Tel Chaim, commemorating Chaim Landau, it was later named for Ithamar, the youngest son of Biblical figure Aaron. Tradition places the burial place of Ithamar in the nearby Palestinian village Awarta.

In the 1990s, Itamar “annexed” the surrounding hills, establishing the outposts The Point in 1996, Hill 836, Hill 851 and Giv'ot Olam in 1998, Hill 777 and Hill 782 in 1999, and in 2002 Itamar North. In November 1999, a master plan was officially approved, giving the settlement a total area of some 6,000 dunams.

Economy

The settlement has several businesses, and many of the residents grow organic crops and raise sheep and goats; larger farms produce a range of further products, such as cheese and olive oil.

Education

Educational institutions include a Talmud Torah for boys, the Be'er Miriam Talmud Torah for girls, the Hitzim yeshiva high school, the Itamar Higher Yeshiva and a midrasha.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Itamar is situated east of the Israel-Westbank separation barrier. Its municipal boundaries extend in a south-east diagonal over an area of some 7,000 dunam including several outposts, and blocks the development of the Palestinian town of Beit Furik to its south. Of the 4,780 dunam of land Itamar proper sits on, 45 percent is privately owned (presumably) Palestinian land.

Settlers from Itamar and its outposts “have exerted violence against local Palestinians; the Israeli authorities have been delinquent in enforcing the law on the offenders” according to the Israeli organization B'tselem. On the other hand, the settlement has been the target of several murderous attacks by Palestinians.

• On May 29, 2001, Itamar resident and one of its founders Gilad Zar, a security officer of the Shomron Regional Council and son of settlement leader Moshe Zar, was shot dead by Palestinians in an ambush while driving in the West Bank between Kedumim and Yitzhar.

• In May 2002, three students of the Hitzim yeshiva high school in Itamar: Netanel Riachi (17), Gilad Stiglitz (14) and Avraham Siton (17), were killed by a Palestinian gunman.

• In June 2002, a Palestinian militant broke into the home of the Shabo family and opened fire. Rachel Shabo, the mother of the family, was murdered, as were three of her children: Neria (16), Zvi (13), and Avishai (5). Another two children were seriously injured. Yossi Tuito, who served as commander of the neighborhood preparedness team, was also shot to death as he approached the family's house in order to help. After more than an hour of exchanging gunfire with Israeli soldiers, the Palestinian gunman was killed. During the gunfight, the Shabo house caught fire and burned down.

• In October 2002, settlers, believed by B'Tselem to be from Itamar, shot at Palestinians who were harvesting olives near the village of Aqraba, killing one of them and wounding another.

• In 2010, two Palestinian teenagers from the nearby town of Awarta were shot to death while they collected garbage near Itamar.

• On March 11, 2011 an intruder or intruders whom Israeli officials believe are Palestinian, broke into the home of the Fogel family and stabbed to death five members of the family in their sleep. The victims are: Udi Fogel (36), Ruth Fogel (35), and their children Yoav (11), Elad (4), and Hadas (3-months). Two other sons (8 and 2) who were sleeping in another room, survived unharmed. The victims were found by the 12 year old daughter, who had returned home around midnight. Itamar had been the place of a confrontation in which ten Palestinians and one settler were injured the week before the attack.

References

1. "Settlements list". Peace Now. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
2. "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
3. In the data provided by the Civil Administration “there is no mention of whether the private land is owned by Palestinians or by Jews... Nevertheless, it is highly probable that most of the land that is marked here as private land (if not all of it) is privately-owned Palestinian land”.“Settlement are built on Private Palestinian Land”. Peace Now, March 14, 2007
4. ^ “G U I L T Y! Construction of Settlements upon Private Land – Official Data”. Peace Now, 2006
5. Shragai, Nadav (9 June 2006). "'Can the law of the country even be called a law?'" (PDF). Haaretz. p. 99. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
6. ^ "Land Grab. Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank" (PDF). B'tselem. May 2002. p. 99. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
7. Amana:"Itamar"
8. “Itamar”. Shomron Liaison Office
9. "Settlement Outposts". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
10. Aviv Lavie (09-04-2003). "The Sheriff". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 April 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Itamar: Religious West Bank settlers BBC News, 21 June 2002
12. Itamar website
13. Cohen (13 March 2011). "Itamar settlement has been a prime target for terror". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
14. "Gilad Zar". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 29 May 2001. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
15. "Netanel Riachi". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 28 May 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
16. "Gilad Stiglitz". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 28 May 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
17. "Avraham Siton". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 28 May 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
18. "Rachel, Avishai, Zvika and Neria Shabo". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 20 Jun 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
19. "Yosef Twito". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 20 Jun 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
20. Shragai, Nadav (23 June 2002). "Itamar mourns its latest victims of terror". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
21. "B'Tselem's Letter to the IDF and the Israeli Police Re: Security for the Olive Harvest". B'tselem. 6 October 2002. p. 1. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
22. ^ Sanders, Edmund (13 March 2011). "Brutal West Bank killings shock Israel, stir fears of renewed violence". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
23. Palestinian kills five Israelis in West Bank, BBC 12-03-2011
24. Altman, Yair (03.13.11). "Itamar massacre: Fogel family butchered while sleeping". YNET news. Retrieved 13 March 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
25. "Udi Fogel". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 11 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
26. "Ruth Fogel". In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism in Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). 11 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
27. Kershner, Isabel (12 March 2011). "Israeli Search for Attackers in West Bank". New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2011.

External links

• Unofficial website
• Amidst political strife and a firing range on the West Bank, the Zimmermans farm, market, and sanctify the land
• Friends of Itamar
• Breaking the Law in the West Bank – One Violation Leads to Another: Israeli Settlement Building on Private Palestinian Property. A Report of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Team, October 2006

• Shomron Regional Council
• Orthodox Israeli settlements