Hamra (Israeli settlement)

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Hamra חמרה
Etymology: Red Soil
Hamra Show map of the Northern West Bank Hamra Show map of the West Bank
Coordinates: 32°11′56″N35°26′6″E / 32.19889°N 35.43500°E / 32.19889; 35.43500
District	Judea and Samaria Area
Council	Bik'at HaYarden
Region	West Bank
Affiliation	Agricultural Union
Founded	1971
Population  (2022) [1]	224

Hamra (Hebrew : חמרה, lit.  'Red Soil') is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav in the West Bank. ^[2] Located in the Jordan Valley and covering 3,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council. ^[2] In 2022 it had a population of 224. ^[1]

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. ^[3]

History

The moshav was founded in 1971 and was initially named Atarot, before being renamed after nearby Tel Hamra. ^[2]

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from two nearby Palestinian villages in order to construct Hamra; 1,370 dunams from Furush Beit Dajan, 192 dunams for a military checkpoint close to Hamra, ^[4] and an unspecified amount from Beit Dajan. ^[5]

In 2020 a family in the nearby Humsa al-Tata village, located above the Hamra checkpoint, was ordered to destroy their home and concrete castings around contiguous structures, including a well and olive trees, after the Israeli government declared it was on an archaeological site. The owner stated that they had lived there since their great-grandfather's time and no-one had ever heard of antiquities on their land. ^[6]

References

1. "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
2. "חמרה". Archived from the original on 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
3. "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
4. Furush Beit Dajan Village Profile Archived 2018-01-27 at the Wayback Machine , ARIJ, p. 15
5. Beit Dajan Village Profile Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine , ARIJ, p. 15
6. Hagar Shezaf, When an Archaeological 'Find' Can Evict Palestinians From Their Home Archived 2021-10-29 at the Wayback Machine , Haaretz, 23 June 2020.