Yitzhar

Yitzhar
יִצְהָר‎
Yitzhar is located in the Northern West Bank
Yitzhar
Yitzhar
Coordinates: 32°10′5″N 35°14′11″E / 32.16806°N 35.23639°E / 32.16806; 35.23639
DistrictJudea and Samaria Area
CouncilShomron
RegionWest Bank
AffiliationAmana
Founded1984
Founded byAmana
Population
 (2022)[1]
2,093

Yitzhar (Hebrew: יִצְהָר) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, south of the city of Nablus, just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council.[2] In 2022, it had a population of 2,093.

The area where Yitzhar is located was determined as Area C under the Oslo Accords, meaning it is under full Israeli control.[3]

In 2008, the New York Times described Yitzhar as "an extremist bastion on the hilltops commanding the Palestinian city of Nablus ... [where] a local war is ... being waged".[4] The inhabitants of Yitzhar have a reputation as being among the most extreme Israeli settlers, and regularly clash with members of the Israeli security forces and local Palestinian civilians.[5] The settlement is at the forefront of the settler movement's so called "price tag" policy, which calls for attacks against Palestinians in retaliation for actions of the Israeli government against West Bank settlements.[6][7][8] In May 2014, Shin Bet said the price-tag hate crimes were mainly attributable to about 100 extremist youth, mostly from Yitzhar, acting on ideas associated with rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg at the community's Od Yosef Chai yeshiva.[7]

  1. ^ "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Settlements list". Peace Now. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  3. ^ Kanonich, Yonatan (August 2018). "Yitzhar – A Case Study" (PDF). Yesh Din.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Bar-Am, Shmuel (18 April 2017). "Israeli woman convicted of inciting attacks on soldiers, Palestinians". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  6. ^ Levinson, Chaim (30 April 2010). "Yitzhar extremists: All settlers must fight construction freeze". Haaretz.
  7. ^ a b Amos Harel, Revital Hovel, Jack Khoury,'Security sources: 100 followers of racist rabbi are behind hate crimes,' Haaretz 8 May 2014.
  8. ^ Magid, Jacob; Bar-Am, Shmuel (23 April 2018). "Yitzhar settlement viewed as epicenter of surge in 'price tag' attacks". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 September 2019.