Karnei Shomron


Karnei Shomron is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council established in 1977 in the West Bank, east of Kfar Saba. Karnei Shomron is located northeast of Tel Aviv and north of Jerusalem. 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 and archaeology

Confiscation of Palestinian land

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from four nearby Palestinian villages of in order to construct Karnei Shomron:
In 1991, several Israeli settlements were merged to become a single municipality called Karnei Shomron Local Council:
  • Karnei Shomron – established in 1977, 450 families
  • Ginot Shomron – established in 1984, 850 families
  • Neve Menachem/Neve Oramin – established in 1991, 220 families
  • Alonei Shilo – established in 1999, 25 families
Also part of Karnei Shomron are:
  • Mitzpe Tzvaim
  • Midreshet Shilat, a midrasha for girls
  • Ramat Gil'ad
  • Neve Aliza, a religious neighborhood of American-style homes founded by new immigrants from the United States and Canada in 1985

    Nature

The town borders Wadi Qana, a wadi marking the border between lands that are believed to have been the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in biblical times. Wadi Qana, is administered by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and is defined as a nature reserve.

Leadership

The chief rabbi of Karnei Shomron is Yitzhak HaLevy.
Igal Lahav is the head of the Karnei Shomron Local Council.

2002 mall attack

During the Second Intifada, on 16 February 2002, two people were killed and 30 people were wounded, six seriously, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a pizzeria in Ginot Shomron shopping mall in Karnei Shomron. Rachel Thaler, aged 16, died of her wounds on 27 February. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

Notable residents

  • Michael Ben-Ari, politician
  • Moshe Feiglin, politician
  • Shmuel Sackett, activist