Shalem settlement inaugurated in Shomron heartland

Hundreds gathered Monday morning for a festive ceremony as twelve founding families moved into Shalem, a new settlement near Alon Moreh in the heart of the Shomron.

Attending were Shomron Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Rav Elyakim Levanon, the rav of Shomron, Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Rav Moshe Asman, Gush Emunim veterans led by Benny Katzover, and a large crowd of supporters.

Shalem is part of the “Connection Plan,” led by the Shomron Regional Council with the Amana movement and the Settlement Division. The plan calls for nineteen new settlements across northern Shomron, following a cabinet decision a year ago led by Ministers Yisrael Katz and Betzalel Smotrich, and is part of the council’s “Million in Shomron” vision.

Shalem is the ninth settlement to break ground in the council’s area in less than a year. It follows Rechovam, Eival, Emek Dotan and Noa, as well as Chomesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim, the four northern Shomron communities uprooted in the 2005 Disengagement that have now been reestablished.

“Twenty-one years ago they destroyed settlements in northern Shomron, and today we merit to establish nine settlements in less than a year,” Dagan said. “The twelve families ascending today to Shalem are the pioneers in whose footsteps thousands will follow. This is our answer to the expulsion and this is our path to victory: another settlement, another family and another home in Eretz Yisrael.”

Rav Levanon recalled that construction in Kfar Darom continued until its final days before it was destroyed. “That was the time of descent. And today, we continue to build,” he said. “In a few more years Alon Moreh will already be a small city, and from Alon Moreh people will travel to Shalem to shop at the supermarket.”

Rav Asman said he came to Israel during the Disengagement using Ukrainian journalist credentials to pass through the checkpoints. “I wanted that when my grandchildren ask, ‘What did you do, grandfather, during the expulsion?’ I could say I tried to do something,” he said. “A Jew is not permitted to be indifferent.”

Knesset Constitution Committee chairman Simcha Rothman called the moment “very, very rare,” saying, “The heart expands when we see another settlement and another settlement.”

Amana Secretary-General Zeev Chaver (Zambish) said some locations have drawn hundreds of applications from people who want to move in. “The government of Israel made a decision, and, thank God, there is an opportunity to implement it, and we are implementing it with joy,” he said.