Ofra
Encyclopedia
Ofra is an Israeli settlement
located in the northern West Bank
in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is situated on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus
(route 60), 25 km from Jerusalem and has 3,200 inhabitants (2010).
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law
, but the Israeli government disputes this. On the basis of the conditions established in the Sasson Report
, Ofra is also unlawful according to Israeli law, as the settlement lacks building permits and a specified area of jurisdiction, and at least 58 percent of the settlement's built-up area is registered in the Land Registry Office under the names of Palestinians, according to the human rights organisation B'Tselem
. In September 2011, the Israeli government set up plans to legitimise the settlement retroactively.
settlement movement, which was founded in February 1974, and the Israeli Labor government, which opposed Israeli settlement amid densely populated Palestinian areas. The name was taken for its biblical aura from a town mentioned in the Book of Joshua
. The establishing group from Gush Emunim first obtained jobs at a nearby military base on Mount Ba'al Hatzor
, then in April 1975 got permission to sleep over in the abandoned barracks of a Jordanian army base. They then brought in their families and raised an Israeli flag. Though opposed by then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
, Ofra was given political backing by Shimon Peres
, then defense minister in Rabin's government, and by his settlement adviser Moshe Netzer. After the Labour Party was defeated by the Likud Party
in the 1977 Israeli election
, the new government recognized Ofra as a community, paving the way for expansion into the surrounding hills. It was designed as an "island" for a selected homogenous population, where all members would share the same "ideological-social background."
Many institutions of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank were first located or established in Ofra, including the Yesha Council
and the Nekuda monthly magazine.
The location of the settlement Ofra is believed to be close to the site of biblical Ophrah
, also known as Ephron and Ephraim.
, 15.1 kilometers from the Green line
in the mountain-range area at 850-900 meters above sea level. The climate is mediterranean-mountainous. Cold and humid winters with several days of snow almost every year and a rain yearly average of about 750 millimeters (29.5 inches). The summers are dry and mild.
Ofra is situated in a karstic
region, with several stalactite caves
and dolina
s. The Center for Cave Research (HaMerkaz Lekheker Me'arot) is located in Ofra.
The town is divided into three main neighborhoods: Neve David, Giv'at Tzvi and the core of the town, which is itself divided into four sections. In addition there are three caravan neighborhoods and another neighborhood ("HaShkhuna HaZmanit", lit. the temporary neighborhood) of houses belong to the Ofra Cooperative Society, rented mostly to newcomers including a community of Bnei Menashe
from Manipur
and Mizoram
.
Neighboring Ofra are the Palestinian villages and towns Deir Dibwan
, Ein Yabrud
, Silwad
, Kafr Malik
, Deir Jarir
and At-Taybeh
, the last is believed to be the site of biblical Ofra.
, grapes and olives. Other branches of agriculture include honey and poultry farming. In the nearby industrial area there are some small light manufacturing
workshops of carpentry and welding.
(Midreshet Shuva) and a field school (a special school for biology environmental studies). The field school holds a permanent exhibition of the fauna of the area and of ancient agriculture. Ofra also has a bird watching center, located in a reservation near the Givat Tzvi neighborhood.
, Ofra is considered illegal under international law, though Israeli disputes this. The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention
's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories claiming that they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected as without basis in international law by the International Court of Justice
and the International Committee of the Red Cross
.
in 2003 introduced criteria for determining the legality of a given settlement under Israeli law. In June 2007, Haaretz
reported that 179 of the 600 buildings in Ofra are considered illegal by the Israeli administration. In a report of December 2008, B'Tselem has argued that while all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, Ofra is illegal even under Israeli law because it violates 3 of the 4 established criteria for legality in the Sasson report. Although Ofra was authorized in 1979, it was never defined a jurisdictional area, never had an outline plan approved and no lawful building permits were issued. According to B'Tselem, large parts of the village also lay on registered privately owned Palestinian land.
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
located in the northern West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is situated on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
(route 60), 25 km from Jerusalem and has 3,200 inhabitants (2010).
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law
International law and Israeli settlements
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal under international law, but Israel maintains that they are consistent with international law because it does not agree that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the...
, but the Israeli government disputes this. On the basis of the conditions established in the Sasson Report
Sasson Report
The Sasson Report is an official Israeli government report published on 8 March 2005 that concluded that Israeli state bodies had been discreetly diverting millions of shekels to build West Bank settlements and outposts that were illegal under Israeli law...
, Ofra is also unlawful according to Israeli law, as the settlement lacks building permits and a specified area of jurisdiction, and at least 58 percent of the settlement's built-up area is registered in the Land Registry Office under the names of Palestinians, according to the human rights organisation B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
. In September 2011, the Israeli government set up plans to legitimise the settlement retroactively.
History
Ofra's establishmen in April 1975 was part of a struggle between the Gush EmunimGush Emunim
Gush Emunim was an Israeli messianic and political movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. While not formally established as an organization until 1974 in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, Gush Emunim sprang out of the conquests of the Six-Day War in 1967, encouraging...
settlement movement, which was founded in February 1974, and the Israeli Labor government, which opposed Israeli settlement amid densely populated Palestinian areas. The name was taken for its biblical aura from a town mentioned in the Book of Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
. The establishing group from Gush Emunim first obtained jobs at a nearby military base on Mount Ba'al Hatzor
Baal-hazor
Baal-hazor, Baal's village, is the place on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin where Absalom held the feast of sheep-shearing when Amnon was assassinated according to 2 Samuel 13:23. It is probably identical with Hazor mentioned in Nehemiah 11:33, now Tell' Asur, 8 km north-east of Bethel....
, then in April 1975 got permission to sleep over in the abandoned barracks of a Jordanian army base. They then brought in their families and raised an Israeli flag. Though opposed by then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, Ofra was given political backing by Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, then defense minister in Rabin's government, and by his settlement adviser Moshe Netzer. After the Labour Party was defeated by the Likud Party
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
in the 1977 Israeli election
Israeli legislative election, 1977
The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won the election, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai...
, the new government recognized Ofra as a community, paving the way for expansion into the surrounding hills. It was designed as an "island" for a selected homogenous population, where all members would share the same "ideological-social background."
Many institutions of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank were first located or established in Ofra, including the Yesha Council
Yesha Council
The Yesha Council is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank , known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.The Chairman of the Yesha Council is Dani Dayan, elected in July 2007...
and the Nekuda monthly magazine.
The location of the settlement Ofra is believed to be close to the site of biblical Ophrah
Ophrah
Ophrah is a name in the Hebrew Bible meaning "a fawn", given to:* A city of Benjamin ; probably identical with Ephron and Ephraim , the modern Palestinian city of Taybeh. The Israeli settlement of Ofra is close to the site as well....
, also known as Ephron and Ephraim.
Geography
Ofra is situated east of the Israel-Westbank separation barrierIsraeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
, 15.1 kilometers from the Green line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
in the mountain-range area at 850-900 meters above sea level. The climate is mediterranean-mountainous. Cold and humid winters with several days of snow almost every year and a rain yearly average of about 750 millimeters (29.5 inches). The summers are dry and mild.
Ofra is situated in a karstic
Karst topography
Karst topography is a geologic formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite, but has also been documented for weathering resistant rocks like quartzite given the right conditions.Due to subterranean drainage, there...
region, with several stalactite caves
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
and dolina
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
s. The Center for Cave Research (HaMerkaz Lekheker Me'arot) is located in Ofra.
The town is divided into three main neighborhoods: Neve David, Giv'at Tzvi and the core of the town, which is itself divided into four sections. In addition there are three caravan neighborhoods and another neighborhood ("HaShkhuna HaZmanit", lit. the temporary neighborhood) of houses belong to the Ofra Cooperative Society, rented mostly to newcomers including a community of Bnei Menashe
Bnei Menashe
The Bnei Menashe are a group of more than 9,000 people from India's North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The claim appeared after a Pentecostalist dreamt in 1951 that his people's pre-Christian religion was Judaism and that...
from Manipur
Manipur
Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...
and Mizoram
Mizoram
Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...
.
Neighboring Ofra are the Palestinian villages and towns Deir Dibwan
Deir Dibwan
Deir Dibwan is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank 7 kilometers east of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the town had a population of approximately 5,252 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. There were 5,016 people from...
, Ein Yabrud
Ein Yabrud
Ein Yabrud is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank. It is located approximately 7 km northeast of the city of Ramallah and its elevation is 800 m. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the town had a population of 3,000...
, Silwad
Silwad
Silwad is a Palestinian town located 12 kilometers north-east of Ramallah, about 5 km away from the Nablus-Jerusalem highway. Silwad altitude is 860 Meter above sea level. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 6,123 inhabitants in...
, Kafr Malik
Kafr Malik
Kafr Malik is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 17 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,787 inhabitants in 2007....
, Deir Jarir
Deir Jarir
Deir Jarir is a Palestinian agricultural town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located eleven kilometers east of Ramallah. It is situated on a hilltop overlooking the Jordan Valley at an elevation of 900 meters...
and At-Taybeh
Taybeh
Taybeh is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 35 kilometers north of Jerusalem and 12 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 850 meters above sea level. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Taybeh had a population of 1,452 in 2007...
, the last is believed to be the site of biblical Ofra.
Economy
Ofra's climate is suitable for growing cherries, nectarines, kiwifruitKiwifruit
The kiwifruit, often shortened to kiwi in many parts of the world, is the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia....
, grapes and olives. Other branches of agriculture include honey and poultry farming. In the nearby industrial area there are some small light manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
workshops of carpentry and welding.
Education
Today there are kindergartens, elementary schools, a girls high school (Ulpana Ofra, established in 1986), a midrashaMidrasha
A refers to an institute of Jewish studies for women. In Israel, it is often an Orthodox institution that caters solely to women, and roughly the equivalent of a yeshiva for men. The term is often translated as 'seminary'. In the United States, the term has also been used to refer to...
(Midreshet Shuva) and a field school (a special school for biology environmental studies). The field school holds a permanent exhibition of the fauna of the area and of ancient agriculture. Ofra also has a bird watching center, located in a reservation near the Givat Tzvi neighborhood.
Status under international law
Like all Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territoriesIsraeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
, Ofra is considered illegal under international law, though Israeli disputes this. The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians...
's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories claiming that they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected as without basis in international law by the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
and the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
.
Status under Israeli law
The Sasson ReportSasson Report
The Sasson Report is an official Israeli government report published on 8 March 2005 that concluded that Israeli state bodies had been discreetly diverting millions of shekels to build West Bank settlements and outposts that were illegal under Israeli law...
in 2003 introduced criteria for determining the legality of a given settlement under Israeli law. In June 2007, Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that 179 of the 600 buildings in Ofra are considered illegal by the Israeli administration. In a report of December 2008, B'Tselem has argued that while all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, Ofra is illegal even under Israeli law because it violates 3 of the 4 established criteria for legality in the Sasson report. Although Ofra was authorized in 1979, it was never defined a jurisdictional area, never had an outline plan approved and no lawful building permits were issued. According to B'Tselem, large parts of the village also lay on registered privately owned Palestinian land.