Migdalim () 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 45 kilometres east of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

on road 505 and adjacent to the

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 ...

village of Qusra, it is organised as a

community settlement A community settlement (, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of town or village in Israel and in the West Bank. In an ordinary town, anyone may buy property, but in a community settlement, the village's residents are organized in a cooperative an ...

and falls under the jurisdiction of

Shomron Regional Council The Shomron Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shomron'', English ''Samaria Regional Council'') is an Israeli regional council in the northern portion of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thirty-five Israeli settlements fall under its jurisdict ...

. 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.

History

According to ARIJ,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

confiscated land from two

villages nearby in order to construct Migdalim: *177 dunums of land was confiscated from Qusra *17 dunums were confiscated from Jurish. Migdalim was first established in 1984 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 demilitarized when turned over to residential purposes in 1986 to 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 ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Israelis Israelis (; ) are the Israeli citizenship law, citizens and nationals of the Israel, State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Israeli Jews, Jews and Arab citizens of Israel, Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percen ...

. One of the reasons for choosing this location was to provide a continuity of settlements along the Trans-Samaria Highway between Kfar Tapuah on the "mountain spine" and Ma'ale Efrayim in the Jordan Valley. On March 1, 2006, Eldad Abir, a resident of Migdalim, married with two children, was shot at point blank range and killed by Palestinians while working in the local gas station. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the murder. An influx of new residents between 2012 and 2017 dramatically changed the demographics of Migdalim which shifted from being a dominantly secular Israeli community to becoming mix of religious and nonreligious, with majority leaning to the first. Events around hostilities with neighboring Palestinian town Qusra in December 2017 brought to light internal disputes between the two groups in Migdalim. A Facebook group called “Saving Migdalim” was formed by residents who claim that their town was taken over and its non religious atmosphere has changed as result.

References

External links

Migdalim
Shomron Regional Council

{{Authority control Non-religious Israeli settlements Nahal settlements Populated places established in 1984 1984 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Israeli settlements in the West Bank