Carmel
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  Carmel  Carmel | |
| Coordinates:31°25′54″N35°10′58″E / 31.43167°N 35.18278°E /31.43167; 35.18278 | |
| Country | Palestine |
| District | Judea and Samaria Area |
| Council | Har Hevron |
| Region | West Bank |
| Affiliation | Amana |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Population (2023)[1] | 632 |
Carmel (Hebrew:כרמל) is anIsraeli settlement organized as amoshav in the south-eastMount Hebron (Har Hevron in Hebrew) area of theWest Bank. It falls under the jurisdiction of theHar Hevron Regional Council and associates ideologically with theAmana settlement movement. In 2023 it had a population of 632.
The settlement is close to theIsraeli settlement ofMa'on, amoshav shitufi which shares a dairy cow farm with Carmel.[2] It is also close to the village ofUmm al-Kheir settled byPalestinian Bedouins, which has drawn criticism of Israel due to the difference in living conditions underIsraeli occupation of the West Bank.[3][4] The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bankillegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[5]
The name Carmel was chosen due to the moshav's close proximity to the location of biblicalCarmel (Joshua 15:55).[6] Carmel is mentioned in1 Samuel 25:2 as a place whereNabal ofMaon had property.[3]
Palestinian Bedouins fromUmm al-Kheir settled there several decades after Israel expelled them from theArad desert. The Bedouins purchased the land from residents in the Palestinian village ofYatta.[3] According to Israeli peace activistDavid Shulman, Carmel lies on lands appropriated from the Bedouins of that village.[7]
Carmel was initially founded in 1980, next to the land on which the Hadaleen Bedouin tribe live, as aNahal military-establishment through a "military seizure order". The settlement was "civilianized" in 1981.[3]
ReutaBeth midrash was established in 2001[8] which is also ahesder yeshiva.
In 2011, aHaaretz article discussed the differences between Carmel and Umm al-Kheir, which are divided by abarbed wire fence.[3] The article described Carmel homes as having "stately country homes" while Umm al-Kheir residents lived in homes made of tin, cloth, and plastic, or of cinder block.[3] Describing Umm al-Kheir, the article says: "They have no running water. They are not connected to the power grid that lights up every settlement and outpost in this remote region. They have no access road."[3] In a 2014New York Times editorial, American journalistNicholas Kristof described theIsraeli occupation of the West Bank as "morally repugnant", comparing the living conditions of Carmel to those in Umm al-Kheir. Kristof wrote that Palestinians were barred from accessing electricity and lived in tents and huts as the Israeli army demolished any permanent structure they erected. In contrast, Kristof described Carmel as "a lovely green oasis that looks like an Americansuburb."[4]
Authority control databases: National |
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