Yitzhar () 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. In , it had a population of .
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.
The area where Yitzhar is located was determined as Area C under the Oslo Accords.
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". 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. 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.Amos Harel, Revital Hovel, Jack Khoury,'Security sources: 100 followers of racist rabbi are behind hate crimes,' Haaretz 8 May 2014. 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.
History The settlement was originally established in 1983 as a pioneer Nahal military outpost, and de-militarized a year later, when turned over to residential purposes in 1984 with the assistance of Gush Emunim's settlement organization, Amana. The settlement continuously grew from a population of 200 in 1994 to almost 400 in 2002, and reached a population of 895 in 2009, predominantly strictly religious Jewish settlers.
The Nahal settlement was called "Rogen", a play on words from the Hebrew root meaning "annoyance". The Hebrew term "yitzhar" was already used in biblical times (f.e. Deuteronomy 7:13), meaning "high quality olive oil", and derives from one of the region's major industries.
According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from six Palestinian towns/villages nearby in order to construct Yitzhar: 495 dunams from Asira al-Qibliya,'Asira al Qibliya Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15 282 dunums from Huwara,Huwwara Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 16 233 dunums from Burin,Burin Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 18 139 dunams from Madama,Madama Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15 114 dunums from Einabus,Einabus Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15 58 dunums from Urif.'Urif Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15
Geography Yitzhar is situated east of the Israel–West bank separation barrier, 20.5 kilometers from the Green line, in the mountain-range area about 10 km southwest of Nablus. One of the Israeli settlements ringing the city of Nablus, Yitzhar is built on the ridge of Salmen al Parsi, a mountain 808 meters above sea level south of Mount Gerizim.
The settlement has a total area of 1,663 dunams, and is zoned for over one thousand families in single family homes.
Outposts Yitzhar has several unauthorized outposts which are illegal according to Israeli law. Lehavat Yitzhar, established in 1998, has ten families and five caravans, and six permanent structures. Shalhevet Farm (Yitzhar West), established in 1999, has eight families and thirteen caravans, and nine permanent houses. Hill 725, established in 2001 outside the boundaries of the parent settlement Yitzhar, has 23 inhabitants and six caravans, and two permanent structures. Mitzpe Yitzhar, established in 2002 outside the boundaries of the parent settlement Yitzhar, has six structures, and was dismantled in May 2004 for the third time, but in early 2005, it was re-established. Shalhevet Ya has three permanent houses and a caravan.
On 21 August 2013, settlers razed Palestinian land with bulldozers to expand the Yitzhar settlement. They were protected by Israeli soldiers.Settlers raze Palestinian land near Nablus . Ma'an, 21 August 2013
In August 2024, the United States placed one individual, the security coordinator (ravshatz) from YitzharJulian Borger, Quique Kierszenbaum,'I am the police, I am the army': sanctioned settler's rule in West Bank,' The Guardian 9 September 2024. on its Specially Designated Nationals blacklist. The move followed a statement by Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet, that settlers and hilltop youth were engaged in terrorism. The individual sanctioned is Yitzhak Levi Filant, described as involved in 'the intimidation of Palestinians with the aim of seizing their land.'Filant's salary is paid by Israel's Ministry of Defense. The U.S. blocked his assets while forbidding organizations from dealing with him. The office of Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu responded that Israel regards with the utmost severity the imposition of sanctions' Israeli citizens.Julian Borger, Quique Kierszenbaum 'US imposes sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers in West Bank The Guardian 28 August 2024 Filant regards himself as a one-man shabak controlling the whole of the Jabal Salman valley, whose Palestinian inhabitants should regard him as their 'mukhtar, their chief, mayor and sheriff.'
Economy The settlement has, olives, vineyards, a winery, and wheat fields. Only Israeli labor is employed, and all private homes, community buildings, and internal roads and development are done by Jews only, mainly residents of the settlement itself, according to the Shomron Regional Council's website.
Education Education is a priority of the community, and several institutions operate locally: a day-care center, pre-schools, the boy's Zilberman Talmud Torah, and the Od Yosef Chai ("Joseph Still Lives") institutions headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, comprising the Dorshei Yichudcha yeshiva high school, a post-high school yeshiva gedola, previously located in Joseph's Tomb Nablus, headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg, and a kollel. The yeshiva, built illegally according to the IDF military prosecutor, supports the so-called "price tag" policy, and senior rabbis of the yeshiva are suspected to encourage students to attack Palestinians and Palestinian property, and the Israeli security forces. Several students affiliated with the yeshiva were forbidden to enter the West Bank on "well-founded suspicions that these students had been involved in attacks on Arabs, including 'price tag' attacks on Arab property".
In 2003, rabbi Ginzburg who is a member of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, was indicted for incitement to racism in his book "Tipul Shoresh" ("Root Treatment"), which contains calls for the Arabs to be expelled from Israel, and for the land to be "cleansed" of foreigners, and compares the Arabs to a cancer. Previous demands to indict Ginzburg had been rejected by Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein in 2001, and following the 1998 publication of Ginzburg's book Baruch Hagever ("Baruch the Man"), which praised the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. Ginzburg was offered an end to all criminal proceedings against him in return for his explicitly and publicly retracting his offensive statements about Arabs.
In January 2010, Shapira was arrested for alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque in the village of Yasuf, after five of his students had been arrested on suspicion of torching the mosque's carpet and book closet and obstructing the investigation. Shapira, who refused to say which of his students had taken part in the attack, was released a day after his arrest.
An investigation into the book Torat HaMelech ("The King's Torah"), co-written by Shapira and rabbi Yosef Elitzur-Hershkowitz, which discusses the rules of war, and states that in certain situations, non-Jews can be killed, including babies of enemy forces "because of the future danger they may present", led to a police raid of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar. Police detained Shapira and Elitzur-Hershkowitz in Summer 2010 for questioning on suspicion of incitement to racial violence, possession of a racist text, and possession of material that incites to violence.
According to Haaretz, Israeli security service Shin Bet is urging the Education Ministry to stop funding the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar. In 2009, the yeshiva high school received NIS 468,000, and the yeshiva gedola received NIS 847,000 from the Education Ministry. The yeshiva also got NIS 707,000 from the Social Affairs Ministry for a project to rehabilitate ultra-Orthodox drop-outs, and an additional NIS 156,000 to operate a dormitory. In January 2011, it was decided not to transfer funds to the yeshiva gedola, but after political pressure was applied, the yeshiva received a letter saying funding would be restored. Od Yosef Chai, for its part, is preparing to petition the High Court of Justice if its funding is halted.
In November 2011, Israel's Education Ministry decided to withhold funds from the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva and close down the Dorshei Yehudcha Yeshiva high school. The decision was based on information received from the defense establishment of extensive involvement by students and rabbis in violent acts against Palestinian residents and Israeli security forces.
Violent incidents The inhabitants of Yitzhar, belonging to a category known as hardal (religiously ultra-Orthodox as well as nationalist),Natasha Roth-Rowland, 'How one hilltop became an incubator for Israeli settler violence,' +952 magazine 2 January 2020 have a reputation as being among the most extreme Israeli settlers, and regularly clash with local Palestinian civilians. From the late 1980s through the next decade, Yitzhar youth were accused of arson at a nearby mosque, firing on Palestinian cars, torching Palestinian fields and olive groves, and rampaging through neighboring villages. In 1989, two yeshiva students were convicted of aggravated assault, after a rampage led to the killing of a local 13-year-old girl, and injuries to an 82-year-old man. 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. A reserve officer serving in the area, commenting on incidents where Israeli soldiers were punished or attacked for carrying out demolition orders, is on records as stating: "You never know if a patrol in the community and its surroundings won't end with a barrage of stones", says a reserve officer who served there. "And the most irritating thing is that later on in the army, and in the community, they'll feed you with the Shabbat cakes they bring and tell you to let it be, because it's just a few psychos."Ariela Ringel Hoffman 'Don't dismiss Yitzhar settlers as 'errant weeds',' Ynet 8 May 2014.
1998 Two Yitzhar residents, Harel Bin-Nun, 18, and Shlomo Liebman, 24, were shot and killed while patrolling a track newly dug to expand the settlement, in an ambush by Arabs on 5 August 1998.Lionel I. Casper, The Rape of Palestine and the Struggle for Jerusalem , Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem 2003 p.220.Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel Since the DOP (Sept 1993) Yitzhar settlers reacted by leading an armed funeral cortege past local Palestinian villages, and stating they would expand the settlement in two divisions named after the dead residents, a proposal that received the backing of Binyamin Netanyahu.Barbara Demick,'At Funeral For 2 Settlers, Call To Rethink Peace Talks There Were Shouts Of revenge. Settlers Vowed To Expand Itzhar After The Attack,' The Philadelphia Inquirer 6 August 1998.
2002 In September 2002, a Palestinian militant shot and injured four soldiers during an attempt to infiltrate Yitzhar. He was shot and killed by security forces.
2004