A community settlement ( he, יישוב קהילתי, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and 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 ...

. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the village's residents are organized in a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

. They have the power to approve or veto a sale of a house or a business to any buyer. Residents of a community settlement may have a particular shared ideology, religious perspective, or desired lifestyle which they wish to perpetuate by accepting only like-minded individuals. For example, a family-oriented community settlement that wishes to avoid becoming a retirement community may choose to accept only young married couples as new residents. As distinct from the traditional Israeli development village, typified by the kibbutz and moshav, the community settlement emerged in the 1970s as a non-political movement for new urban settlements in Israel.Aharon Kellerman
''Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century,''
SUNY Press 2012 pp.94-102. But it essentially took shape as a new typology for settling the West Bank and the Galilee as part of the goal of establishing a 'demographic balance' between Jews and Arabs. In practice this means establishing Jewish-only settlements, who have the right to refuse Arabs from moving to them. Israeli courts have approved this policy in its ruling as well. Though the law explicitly prohibits explicit discrimination against members of other social groups, it permits the admissions committees to reject candidates on such vague grounds as “unsuitability to the community’s social life” or its “social-cultural fabric” or to “unique characteristics of the community as defined in its bylaws.” An attorney of Adalah, described the ruling and its implications as the following In 2013, there were 118 community settlements with total population of 84,800 residents.

History

The first community settlement in Israel was

Neve Monosson Neve Monosson ( he, נוה מונוסון), also known as Neve Efraim and Neve Efraim Monosson, commonly called Monosson by its residents, is a municipal borough within the joint municipality of Yehud-Monosson (along with the city of Yehud) in ...

, in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, which was established in 1953. From 1977, the

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...

led government supported expansion of Israeli Jewish settlements in the

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. Within a few years, community settlements were the most common localities in those regions. In 1981, the first such town,

Timrat Timrat ( he, תִּמְרַת, ''lit.'' Date) is a community settlement in northern Israel. Located in the Lower Galilee near Nahalal, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The v ...

was established in the Galilee region. According to

Gershom Gorenberg Gershom Gorenberg ( he, גרשום גורנברג) is an American-born Israeli journalist, and blogger,Gush Emunim Gush Emunim ( he, גּוּשׁ אֱמוּנִים , ''Bloc of the Faithful'') was an Israeli ultranationalist Orthodox Jewish right-wing activist movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Gol ...

movement. The settlement of

Ofra Ofra ( he, עֹפְרָה) is an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank. Located on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus (Route 60), it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In it had a population ...

was to form the model for later community settlements, whose founders wished to create a community that broke with the socialist model, one where people could farm privately, run businesses, or use the exclusive exurb village to commute to work in the metropolis. All residents were to share an "ideological-social background. The planning envisaged nuclear family housing in an amenable natural ambiance. The sum total of people in any such community was planned to be restricted to no more than a few hundred families.

Gershom Gorenberg Gershom Gorenberg ( he, גרשום גורנברג) is an American-born Israeli journalist, and blogger, ''Occupied Territories: The Untold Story of Israel's Settlements,''
I.B.Tauris, 2006 pp.353,368. A seminal role in the extension of the model into the Palestinian territories was played by the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...

(WZO) and Amanah, Gush Emunim's settlement branch in the West Bank.Eyal Weizman
''Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation,''
Verso Books, 2012 pp.125-130. Recognition of these

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It sh ...

s as community settlements developed only gradually, since they differed from the standard norms of being 'cooperative' and 'productive'. Gush Emunim pushed this type of settlement, designed in dense networks, because it was best suited to hilly terrain, where agricultural and water resources were poor, and where the density of Palestinian habitation high. Life was based on family networks and partial cooperation, adapted to housing white-collar people with jobs in Israel.Elisha Efrat
''The West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Geography of Occupation and Disengagement,''
Routledge 2006 pp.31,37-8, pp95-6. According to Elisha Efrat, Gush Emunim intended to establish Israeli Jewish settlement as an irreversible reality in the Palestinian territories. The mountain strip community settlements were developed in two strategically parallel lines: the first central string of settlements runs parallel to the main road connecting the five major Arab cities of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah,

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

and

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

, while the second, east to the watershed, runs parallel to the Allon Highway. The objective of this design is to create blockages hindering Palestinians from expanding their towns in the direction of the road, and impeding the conurbation of their communities lying on either sides of the road. The concept was institutionalized in the Drobless Plan (1978) drawn up by the WZO, which set down the guidelines for thwarting the establishment of a

Palestinian state Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization ( ...

on the West Bank.Leila Farsakh
''Palestinian Labour Migration to Israel: Labour, Land and Occupation,''
Routledge 2005 pp.48-51. The first community settlement,

, was established in 1975, and four of the first five settlements were unauthorized. The reevaluation and recognition of such settlements as cooperative associations was based on the ascendancy to government of the

party, which seconded the rapid growth of closed exurbs in which religious nationalists played a dominant role. The Gush Emunim plan was eventually adopted by both the World Zionist Organization and Israel's Ministry of Agriculture. With the ascendancy of the Likud Party, community settlements rapidly expanded in number: by 1987, there were a total of 95 and two years later, most of the 115 settlements established were of this kind. Such settlements were also attractive as destinations for "quality of life" secularists, for whom easy commuting to their metropolitan workplaces and the low cost of housing in settlements were notable incentives. Community settlements are in Israeli legal terms cooperative associations: in practice they have been defined as 'private, members-only suburban village(s)'. While in an ordinary village anyone may buy property, in a ''community settlement'' the village's residents, who are organized in a cooperative, have approval (or veto power) over any sale of a house or a business. Each community settlement has its own selection process for admitting residents, together with mechanisms for monitoring all aspects of communal life, from religious observance and ideological rigour, to how one uses the land outside one's home. Warnings accompany observed failures to live up to the principles of the community, and, if not taken into account, can lead to expulsion. The design of these principles arose out of a perceived necessity of impeding Arabs from residing in such settlements. Monitoring may have a particular shared ideology, religious perspective, or desired lifestyle which they wish to perpetuate by accepting only like-minded individuals. In West Bank community settlements, single-family housing with private yards, which are emblems of status, are the most common residential type. Unlike kibbutzim and moshavim, community settlements generally lack any agriculture and depend on residents commuting elsewhere for employment. In this sense, they serve primarily as dormitory towns or quarters.

Legal structure

Legally, a community settlement operates as a

in which all property-owning residents must be members. To enforce the restrictions on reselling property, property on a community settlement is formally not sold, but rather

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

d. The land of the entire settlement is owned by one entity (usually the Jewish National Fund through the

Israel Land Administration The Israel Land Administration (ILA; he, מנהל מקרקעי ישראל, Minhal Mekarka'ei Yisra'el; ar, مديرية أراضي اسرائيل) is an Israeli government authority responsible for managing land in Israel which is in the public d ...

), which leases out individual plots only to members of the cooperative. In that sense, a community settlement is much like a village-sized housing cooperative. Israeli law bans the allocation of land resources on a preferential basis. According to Eyal Weizman, the community settlement system developed techniques to bypass those laws by having state land, either in Israel or in the Palestinian territories, placed in the custody of legal bodies registered in the United States, Jewish Agency or the World Zionist Organization. By this means, he asserts, the state of Israel was 'enabled to circumvent its own laws'. The residents cooperative may also own private businesses and service industries within or in proximity to the settlement. These are often used for keeping certain public facilities, such as

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...

, synagogues,

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s, sport facilities, youth clubs, swimming pools, etc., in the hands of the entire community. However, unlike a kibbutz or a moshav, the economic cooperation between residents is very loose - most residents work outside the settlement, and residents only pay minimal

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inhe ...

es to the cooperative to help maintain the village and its public facilities. Note that despite a popular misconception, the mere existence of community-owned facilities is ''not'' what differentiates community settlements from ordinary villages, as most ordinary villages also have the same types of facilities - preschool, synagogues, sport centers and sometimes even swimming pools - owned and operated by the village. Likewise, the mere existence of a democratic body of residents which makes decisions and organizes events for the whole community is ''not'' a defining feature of community settlements; ordinary villages also have their own local governments which are democratically elected by their residents. Most community settlements are small, typically amounting to communities of 50-500 families, and are therefore too small to form their own separate formal

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. Instead, the residents' cooperative is recognized by the state of Israel as a local committee. Several such local committees can, for example, form together a regional council, which is one of the three types of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

in Israel. In practice, the regional council often has more impact on the residents' life than the cooperative of their own settlement. It is the regional council which will normally run schools, build roads, collect property taxes, and even run its own screening process.

Controversy

To permanently move to a community settlement, potential residents must join the cooperative. An interview and acceptance process is often required to join the cooperative and move into the community. The

Association for Civil Rights in Israel The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) (Hebrew: ; Arabic: ) was created in 1972 as an independent, non-partisan not-for-profit organization with the mission of protecting human rights and civil rights in Israel and the territories u ...

has claimed that this screening process is designed to deny membership to

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, and that sometimes Jews of specific ethnic or socio-economic groups are also discriminated against. Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel issued a press release:

References

{{Israeli administrative jurisdictions Subdivisions of Israel