Hamra (Israeli settlement)

Hamra
Hamra is located in the Northern West Bank
Hamra
Hamra
Coordinates: 32°11′56″N 35°26′6″E / 32.19889°N 35.43500°E / 32.19889; 35.43500
DistrictJudea and Samaria Area
CouncilBik'at HaYarden
RegionWest Bank
AffiliationAgricultural Union
Founded1971
Population
 (2022)[1]
224

Hamra (Hebrew: חַמְרָה, lit. 'Red Soil') is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav in the West Bank.[2] Located in the Jordan Valley and covering 3,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council.[2] In 2022 it had a population of 224.[1]

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[3]

History

The moshav was founded in 1971 and was initially named Atarot, before being renamed after nearby Tel Hamra.[2]

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from two nearby Palestinian villages in order to construct Hamra; 1,370 dunams from Furush Beit Dajan, 192 dunams for a military checkpoint close to Hamra,[4] and an unspecified amount from Beit Dajan.[5]

In 2020 a family in the nearby Humsa al-Tata village, located above the Hamra checkpoint, was ordered to destroy their home and concrete castings around contiguous structures, including a well and olive trees, after the Israeli government declared it was on an archaeological site. The owner stated that they had lived there since their great-grandfather's time and no-one had ever heard of antiquities on their land.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "חמרה". Archived from the original on 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  3. ^ "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  4. ^ Furush Beit Dajan Village Profile Archived 2018-01-27 at the Wayback Machine, ARIJ, p. 15
  5. ^ Beit Dajan Village Profile Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, ARIJ, p. 15
  6. ^ Hagar Shezaf, When an Archaeological 'Find' Can Evict Palestinians From Their Home Archived 2021-10-29 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz, 23 June 2020.