Shvut Rachel () is a former

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 ...

, retroactively designated a neighborhood of the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

of Shilo, in the West Bank. Shvut Rachel sits between 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 ...

villages of

Turmus Ayya Turmus Ayya () is a Palestinian territories, Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the West Bank, in Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), it had a population of 2,464 in 2017. ...

Qaryut Qaryout () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, located southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Qaryut had a population of 2,560 inhabit ...

and

Jalud Jalud () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank. It is approximately south of Nablus and is situated just east of Qaryut, south of Qusra and northeast of Shilo, Mateh Binyamin, Shilo, an ...

, part of whose lands were expropriated for building Shvut Rachel. Nearby Israeli settlements include Shilo,

Giv'at Har'el Givat Harel () is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, built as an Israeli outpost, illegal outpost in 1998 and legalized in 2023 by the Israeli government. The settlement was illegally established in 1998 mostly on State of Palestine, Pales ...

Esh Kodesh Esh Kodesh () is an Israeli outpost in the West Bank near Shilo. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. Israeli outposts in the West Bank are considered illegal both under international law as well as under Is ...

, Keeda, and

Adei Ad Adei Ad () is an Israeli outpost in the West Bank. Located near Shvut Rachel and Qusra, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. A resident of Adei Ad says that the outpost includes about 40 families. Adei Ad gai ...

. The village, administrated by the

Matte Binyamin Regional Council Mateh Binyamin Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Binyamin,'' Lit. Council for the Region of the Tribe of Benjamin) is a regional council governing 47 Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank. The council's jurisdiction is fr ...

, has a population of 100 families. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The

Sasson Report The Sasson Report is an official Israeli government report published on 8 March 2005 that concluded that Israeli state bodies had been discreetly diverting millions of shekels to build West Bank settlements and outposts that were illegal under Is ...

in 2005 noted that the settlement extends over

land, part of which is owned by Fawzi Haj Ibrahim Mohammad from

, turned over to the settlement after the Israeli authorities declared it state land.

History

The village was founded in November 1991 in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack on a civilian bus; Rachela Druk of Shilo, a mother of 7, and Yitzhak Rofe, the bus driver - who were on their way to a demonstration in

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 the night of the funerals, a group of students from the yeshiva in Shilo as well as two young couples, including a pregnant woman who gave birth a week later, established Shvut Rachel. The settlers moved on to the land without government permission. 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 for the establishment of Shvut Rachel: 372

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of land from

,Turmus’ayya Town Profile
ARIJ, p. 17 and 963 dunams from

. In February 2012 the Israeli government approved the construction of new housing units in Shvut Rachel. This action was condemned by the

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Un ...

of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Catherine Ashton Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born 20 March 1956) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of th ...

Legal status

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Israel, on the other hand, differentiates between "legal" and "illegal" settlements, and Shvut Rachel was illegal even by Israeli standards until February 2012. According to

Peace Now Peace Now ( ''Shalom Achshav'', ) is an Israeli liberal advocacy organization with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Early activism In an official document from 1982 Peace Now advocated for an und ...

, the

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT; ) is a unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense tasked with overseeing civilian policy in the West Bank, as well as facilitating logistical coordination between Israel and the ...

legalized the outpost by redesignating it as a neighborhood of Shilo.

Midreshet Binat

Binat is a

midrasha A ' (Hebrew: ; : ), typically, is an institute of Torah study for women of post-high-school age, somewhat equivalent to a men's yeshiva; most are located in Israel. The midrasha is also somewhat parallel to a "women's seminary" (Hebrew "semin ...

located in Shvut Rachel. Headed by

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Ronen Tamir, it was founded in 2000 as an additional branch of the nearby yeshiva in Shilo. It includes a regular seminary program, a one-month program in September for college students, and a joint program with Bayit VeGan Teachers College. It is associated with the

Talpiot College of Education The Talpiot College of Education (המכללה האקדמית תלפיות) is a religious teacher training college in Holon, Israel. It prepares teachers “in the spirit of the ''Mamlachti dati'' (state religious) education system”. It was fo ...

References

External links

Shvut Rachel

Shvut Rachel on Matte Binyamin communities page

Midrasha Homepage
{{Coord, 32, 3, 16, N, 35, 18, 42, E, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Religious Israeli settlements Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Populated places established in 1991 1991 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Community settlements Israeli outposts Unauthorized Israeli settlements

History

Legal status

Midreshet Binat

See also

References

External links