New Samaria Settlement 'Giv'at Shomron' Established Post-Election

The day after the elections, a new settlement named Giv'at Shomron was established in the northern Samaria region, with the first families moving into prefabricated homes. Trucks carrying equipment arrived at the site, and the founding families, graduates of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva led by Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira and Rabbi Ben Zion Algazi, began settling in. An official ceremony is scheduled to take place later today with the participation of ministers, Knesset members, and public figures.

The settlement is located on the site of a former IDF paratrooper training base, near the evacuated settlement of Sa-Nur. The establishment of Giv'at Shomron is part of the "Hitjabrut Program" led by the Samaria Regional Council, which aims to establish 19 new settlements in northern Samaria, an area where four settlements were evacuated as part of the 2005 disengagement plan. The program is being advanced in cooperation with the Amanah movement and the Settlement Division, as part of the "Million in Samaria" plan.

Yossi Dagan, Head of the Samaria Regional Council, was present as the caravans arrived and offered a blessing. "This is our Zionist answer to the uprooting," Dagan stated. "We are privileged to advance the Hitjabrut program, to establish a settlement with a core group from Ramat Gan, in a place that was a paratrooper training base. We are here to stay."

Yitzhak Elhanan Drori, a resident of Ramat Gan who moved to the settlement with his wife and six children, expressed his excitement. "We are full of excitement and gratitude to God who chose us for such an important and joyous mission, and we hope to soon see this place, which has waited so many years, alive, flourishing, and full of families and the light of Torah."

Giv'at Shomron joins a wave of settlement activity in northern Samaria, which includes the establishment of new settlements and the renewal of settlement in evacuated areas. Among the renewed settlements are Sa-Nur, Homesh, Ganim, and Kadim, alongside new settlements such as Shelem, Rechavam, Eival, Emek Dotan, and Noa. Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva described the move as a renewed opportunity for settlement in the area, stating, "We have waited thousands of years to reach here. We have arrived and received a second chance for northern Samaria, and we are not missing it."