Nahliel () is a Haredi Israeli settlement 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 close to the Palestinian villages of Beitillu and Deir 'Ammar, and some from

Modi'in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( ''Mōdīʿīn-Makkabbīm-Rēʿūt'') is a city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Route 443 (Israel), Highway 443. In the population ...

, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of the

Mateh 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 Councils in Israel, regional council Local government in Israel, governing 47 Israeli settlements and Israe ...

. 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

The settlement was established in October 1984 by the Poalei Agudat Yisrael movement, and was named after the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

city of Nahaliel and a book by Isaac Breuer, the founder of Poalei Agudat Yisrael. According to ARIJ, Nahliel was built on land confiscated from two Palestinian towns; 396

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 from al-Ittihad and 19 dunams from al-Zaitounah.Al-Itihad Town Profile (Beitillu, Jammala & Deir 'Ammar)
ARIJ, pp. 16-17 Most of the founders were members of the religious youth movement Ezra. The settlers initially lived in ten temporary houses that were not connected to electricity or water supplies. A trailer carrying water was delivered each day for several weeks until a water tower was erected, which was also supplied by a daily delivery. A minimal supply of electricity was provided by a tiny generator that the builders left for their use during the night. Until the start of the

First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

in 1987, relationships between the settlers and residents of surrounding Palestinian villages were positive, with Palestinians visiting the settlement and settlers using the shops in the adjacent villages. During the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

, two Israeli women were ambushed and wounded by Palestinians near Nahliel. In March 2005 a group of 30 to 40 Jewish seminary students used clubs and stones to beat eight Palestinian men employed in Nahliel as they were entering the settlement. Dror Etkes of Peace Now, writing in 2005, stated that some of the residents were "radical settlers" on the fringes of ultra-Orthodox society, making it atypical among the ultra-Orthodox settlements.Dror Etkes, Lara Friedman
"The Ultra-Orthodox Jews in the West Bank"
Peace Now, October 2005. North and east of Nahliel are lands belonging to the Palestinians of the village of Beitillu, whose residents are only allowed to work on their orchards for a few days a year. Significant damage to the Palestinian olive groves adjacent to the settlement was caused in 2012, but the culprits were unknown. The area is surrounded by barbed wire. Amira Hass (16 July 2012)
"Uprooting Palestinian trees - and lives"
''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' (Tel Aviv).

Archaeology

Within the area of the settlement there are two ancient burial caves, probably dating back to the period of the Second Temple. Just outside Nachliel there is an area marked on maps as the remains of a Jewish village called Kfar Sum, including remains of several houses, a mosaic floor and several signs of a well developed olive oil and wine industry.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Religious Israeli settlements Populated places established in 1984 Mateh Binyamin Regional Council 1984 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank