Itamar (town)
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Itamar אִיתָמָר |
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 Itamar
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| Coordinates: 32°10′27″N 35°18′30″E / 32.17417°N 35.30833°ECoordinates: 32°10′27″N 35°18′30″E / 32.17417°N 35.30833°E | |
| District | Judea and Samaria Area |
| Council | Shomron |
| Region | West Bank |
| Affiliation | Amana |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founded by | Amana |
| Population (2015) | 1,305 |
Itamar (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, five kilometers southeast of Nablus. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community falls in part within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Itamar was designated Area "C" under full Israeli civil and security control. In 2015, it had a population of 1,305.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The settlement has several outposts and covers a total area of approximately 7,000 dunams of land.
Itamar's residents have been the target of several lethal attacks by Palestinian militants, most notably the 2011 massacre of the Fogel family by residents of the nearby village of Awarta.HRW reports an extensive number of violent acts by settlers from Itamar and its outposts against local Palestinians.
The settlement was established in 1984 by several families from the Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem with the assistance of Gush Emunim's settlement organization Amana. Originally named Tel Chaim, commemorating Chaim Landau, it was later named for Ithamar, the youngest son of Biblical figure Aaron (Exodus 28:1). Tradition places the burial place of Ithamar in the nearby Palestinian village Awarta. The major of the city argues that the deed title for taking over the land is based on biblical writ. According to Palestinians at Yanun, before the al-Aqsa Intifada, relations between local villagers and Itamar, the nearest legal settlement, had been on a good footing. After the killing of 13 Israeli Arabs in Jerusalem, matters rapidly deteriorated, and over 3 years, Palestinian militants killed some 11 Itamar settlers. In Itamar, blame for these killings was laid at the door of local Palestinian villagers, who according to, Alon Zimmerman, an immigrant from California, were believed to provide militants with local support. The whole village of Yanun, though never linked to any violence or attack, itself was so harassed by local Itamar hilltop settlers that its entire population was put to flight, and sought refuge in Awarta, and became, according to Joel Greenberg 'the first case in memory in which harassment by Jewish settlers has emptied an entire Palestinian community'. At the time of the uprising Itamar had a reputation among Israelis one of the hard core settlements. One visitor at the time remarked that many of its recent residents were immigrants from the former Soviet empire, and from Argentina, who spoke poor Hebrew and dwelt in trailers and appeared to have little awareness of where they were or why anyone should object to their presence there.
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