Shomron Regional Council

Shomron Regional Council מועצה אזורית שומרון‎
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Official logo of Shomron Regional Council Logo
District	Judea and Samaria Area
Region	West Bank
Area	2,800,000 dunams (2,800 km2 or 1,100 sq mi)
Population (2011)	23,600
• Density	8.4/km2 (22/sq mi)
Website	http://www.shomron.org.il/

The Shomron Regional Council (Hebrew: מועצה אזורית שומרון‎, Mo'atza Azorit Shomron, English Samaria Regional Council) is an Israeli regional council in the northern West Bank. It provides municipal services for the 29 Israeli settlements in the Samarian hills within its jurisdiction with a total population of about 23,600 people. The council seat is located in Elon Moreh, the offices are located in the Barkan Industrial Park.

The municipal area of the Council spreads across 2,800 square kilometers. Until the fall of 2005 when some of its municipal land was abandoned as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, the Shomron Regional Council had been the largest Israeli regional council in municipal area.

The head of Shomron Regional Council is Gershon Mesika, who was elected in November 2007, replacing Benzi Lieberman. Mesika was replaced by Yossi Dagan in 2015 after a corruption scandal.

Geography

The municipal area of the Council spreads across 2,800 square kilometers, which corresponds to about 10 percent of the area of the State of Israel within the Green Line. In municipal area, Shomron Regional Council is among the largest Israeli authorities.

Map of communities of Shomron regional council

The municipal boundaries:

• North: the (former) settlements of Ganim and Kadim, reaching to Megiddo Junction.
• West: the settlement of Tzofim, reaching to Kfar Saba.
• South: the settlements of Peduel and Alei Zahav.

The Council is divided into geographic regions, where each region has its own characteristics:

• The Northern Shomron region: Hinanit, Hermesh, Tal Menashe, Mevo Dotan, Reihan, Shaked. All the communities are secular, except for Tal Menashe. Population is around 2,000.
• Central-Western Shomron: Avnei Hefetz, Barkan, Ma'ale Shomron, Nofim, Sal'it, Einav, Etz Efraim, Peduel, Tzufim, Kiryat Netafim, Revava, Shavei Shomron, Sha'arei Tikva, Yakir: mixed population (secular and religious). Most of the communities are large and well established. If you add to them the Local Authorities in Samaria (Alfei Menashe, Elkana, Immanuel, Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, Oranit; and the city of Ariel), all of which are located in this region, the Jewish population numbers about 60,000.
• Mountain Communities: Elon Moreh, Itamar, Har Brakha, Yitzhar (one block, near Nablus, population about 3,000), and farther south, Kfar Tapuach, Rechelim, and Migdalim, with less than 1000 residents.

Public statements

In the run-up to the Israeli legislative election, 2015, the council published a video portraying money-grabbing Jewish-Israeli leftists taking donations from Europeans in Nazi dress. The message has been interpreted as a characterization of human rights supporters in Europe, and joint Jewish-Arab initiatives, as neo-Nazi phenomena.

Settlements

The largest settlement in the Shomron Regional Council today is Sha'arei Tikva, numbering more than 1,000 families.

List of settlements

• Alei Zahav
• Avnei Hefetz
• Barkan
• Bruchin
• Einav
• Elon Moreh

• Etz Efraim
• Har Bracha
• Hermesh
• Hinanit
• Itamar
• Kfar Tapuach

• Kiryat Netafim
• Ma'ale Shomron
• Mevo Dotan
• Migdalim
• Nofim
• Peduel

• Rechelim
• Reihan
• Revava
• Sal'it
• Sha'arei Tikva
• Shaked

• Shavei Shomron
• Tel Menashe
• Tzofim
• Yakir
• Yitzhar

Razed settlements

During the implementation of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of August/September 2005, the residents of four of the Shomron Regional Council's settlements were evicted, their residential buildings destroyed, and land abandoned to the Palestinians, including territory outlined in the Oslo Accords as Area 'C' in full Israeli control.

In northern Shomron:
Ganim	Homesh	Kadim	Sa-Nur

External links

• Shomron Regional Council website