Rimonim (), 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 on the

Allon Road Allon Road is the name given by Israel to Routes 458, 508, and 578 in the West Bank, running roughly south–north along the eastern watershed of the Judaean Mountains, Judaean and Samarian Hills, between Highway 1 (Israel), Highway 1 near Kfa ...

, about a twenty-minute drive north-east from

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

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.

Etymology

The village is named after the biblical Rock of Rimmon (present-day

Rammun Rammun () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located twelve kilometers east of Ramallah and three kilometers south of Taybeh. Other nearby towns include Deir Dibwan to the southwest, Beitin ...

). The name comes from the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...

: "But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months" (Judges, 20:47).

History

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 393

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 ...

of land from the nearby

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 ...

town of Taybeh in order to construct Rimonim in 1977. Rimonim was established in 1977 (20

Shevat Shevat (, , ; from ) is the fifth month of the civil year starting in Tishre (or Tishri) and the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar starting in Nisan. It is a month of 30 days. Shevat usually occurs in January– ...

5737) as a temporary 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. Three years later in 1980 (on 4

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

5741), it moved to the current location, demilitarized and turned over to residential purposes non-

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

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 ...

with help from the Amana settlement organization. In the mid-2000s the village allowed religious Jews to move in. Until then, it had been almost exclusively secular in nature. Services provided include a synagogue, half-Olympic sized swimming pool, post office, nursery,

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, basketball court, and youth centre. At the edge of town, there is a look-out point, from which one can view the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. The settlement includes the ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

ruins of Khirbet El Kiliya.google.com/maps
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Notable residents

Amihai Eliyahu Amihai Ben-Eliyahu (; born 24 April 1979), commonly known as Amihai Eliyahu (), is an Israeli far-right politician and activist who has served as Minister of Heritage since 2025. Eliyahu currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Otzma Ye ...

(born 1979),

Otzma Yehudit Otzma Yehudit () is a Far-right politics in Israel, far-right, ultranationalist, Kahanism, Kahanist, and Anti-Arab racism, anti-Arab List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. It is the ideological descendant of the outlawe ...

politician; Minister of Heritage since 2022

References

External links

Official websiteRimonim
Mateh Binyamin Regional Council {{Authority control Nahal settlements Mixed Israeli settlements Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Populated places established in 1977 1977 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Agricultural Union Community settlements Israeli settlements in the West Bank