First families settle in Shalem, 9th out of 19 planned communities across Samaria

It is named for the biblical city that Jacob reached on his return from his father-in-law Laban in the Syrian desert.

By David Israel, TPS

The first families have settled in Shalem, the ninth new Israeli community established in Samaria over the past year, according to the Shomron Regional Council.

Shalem sits on the Kabir ridge near Route 555, between Alon Moreh and Itamar.

It will help form the first cluster of communities around Alon Moreh, which has been isolated for many years.

The site overlooks Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim, Tel Shechem, and Joseph’s Tomb.

It is named for the biblical city that Jacob reached on his return from his father-in-law Laban in the Syrian desert.

Work began overnight on a road linking Alon Moreh to Mekhora that will pass near Shalem, connecting Samaria with the Jordan Valley and offering another route north.

Paving is expected to take about a week.

Shalem is part of a plan advanced by the council, the Amana settlement movement and the Settlement Division.

The plan calls for 19 new communities in northern and central Samaria and falls under the broader “One Million in Samaria” initiative to significantly increase the area’s population.

The council described Noa, the previous community, as the eighth it had established in less than a year.

Council head Yossi Dagan welcomed the families and tied the move to the resettlement of northern Samaria.

“Twenty-one years ago, they destroyed our homes and expelled us from Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim,” Dagan said, referring to the 2005 Ariel Sharon administration’s Disengagement Plan.

“Twenty-one years later, we have returned,” Dagan concluded.