Kfar HaOranim explained

Kfar HaOranim
Meaning:Village of the Pines
Founded:1997
Founded By:Amana
District:js
Council:Mateh Binyamin
Pushpin Map:Israel binyamin#West Bank
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Coordinates:31.9192°N 35.0383°W

Kfar HaOranim (Hebrew: כְּפָר הָאֳרָנִים||Village of the Pines), also known as Menora (Hebrew: מְנוֹרָה) or Giv'at Ehud, is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Contiguous with Lapid and located near to the major city of Modi'in, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin 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.[1]

History

Planning for the settlement (then named Giv'at Ehud, after Ehud Ben-Amitai, a fighter pilot killed in a training accident) began in 1981. The cornerstone was laid in 1984 at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, by which time the name had changed to Menora. However, legal issues over the ownership of the land led to a delay in construction. The first residents finally moved in during October 1997.

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 682 dunams of land from the Palestinian village of Saffa for the construction of Menora/Kfar HaOranim.[2]

Notes and References

  1. News: The Geneva Convention . BBC News . 10 December 2009 . 27 September 2011 .
  2. http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/vprofile/Saffa_vp_en.pdf Saffa village profile