The Shomron Regional Council was founded on the 19th of April, 1979. At it’s founding, the council was made up of the communities of: Sanur, Shavei Shomron, Kedumim, Karnei Shomron, Elkana, Ariel and Kefar Tapuach.
All the Local Councils in the Shomron started out as communities of the Shomron Regional Council, grew and developed, and when they reached the appropriate numbers of families- were declared by the Interior Ministry as independent authority/ local council. Today there are seven of these: Ariel (city), Elkana, Oranit, Kedumim, Karnei Shomron, Alfei Menashe, Emanuel.
The population of the Council is about 20,000 people, living in 34 communities.
The largest community in the Shomron Regional Council today is Sharei Tikva, numbering more than 1000 families, and the youngest is Nofei Nechemia, numbering 12 families.
The municipal area of the Council spreads across 2,800 square kilometers (about 10% of the area of the State of Israel). According to its municipal area, the Shomron Regional Council is among the largest authorities in Israel.
The municipal boundaries: North: the communities of Ganim and Kadim, reaching to Megiddo Junction. West: the community of Tzufim, reaching to Kefar Saba. South: communities of Peduel and Alei Zahav, reaching to Ben Gurion International Airport. East: the community of Migdalim, situated on the border of the Jordan Valley.
The Council is divided into geographic regions- where each region has its own characteristics:
The Northern Shomron region: Ganim, Kadim, Hinanit, Homesh, Hermesh, Tal-Menashe, Mevo Dotan, Reichan, Sanur, Shaked- all the communities are secular, except for Tal-Menashe.
Central-Western Shomron: Avnei-Hefetz, Barkan, Ma’aleh Shomron, Nofim, Selait, Einav, Etz Efraim, Peduel, Tzufim, Kiryat Netafim, Revava, Shavei Shomron, Sharei Tikva- mixed population (secular and religious). Most of the communities are large and well established. If you add to them the Local Authorities in the Shomron, all of which are located in this region, the Jewish population numbers about 60,000 people.
Mountain Communities- Elon Moreh, Itamar, Har Bracha, Yitzhar (one block), and joining them Kefar Tapuach, Rechalim, Nofei Nechemia and Migdalim.
All the communities have similar characteristics: intoxicating view, life close to Nature, supportive social community, life based on values, high educational standards from infancy to academic levels, close to the large Israeli cities, possibility of employment in the community (local and regional Industrial Zones), diverse cultural activities, and successful blend of all the range of Israeli society in joint living and achievement.
Since 1986 (the first “Intifada”) and afterwards in 1994 (following the “Oslo Accords”) and since Rosh HaShana 5761 (October 2000), the communities of the Council have suffered (along with all the citizens of the State of Israel) from an ongoing war of the Palestinian Terror Organizations. In the course of all these years, the communities of the Council continue to lead normal lives even in the shadow of the threats of war and terror, and even adding new families to their communities.
Throughout the years, the population of the Council has risen (through natural growth, and by adding new families) by an average of 7% per year.
Meir Har-Nui was appointed the first Head of the Council. After him Benny Katsover was appointed. Aryeh Ofri was the first Head elected directly by the residents. In 1998 the lawyer Bentzi Lieberman was elected to be the fourth Council Head, and in November 2002 Bentzi Lieberman received the confidence of the residents a second time.
The Council has three Industrial Zones- Barkan Industrial Zone, with more than 100 factories, among them some of the largest and most successful in Israel; Shahak Industrial zone- in the Northern Shomron, with 5 factories, and the Bar-On Industrial Zone adjacent to Kedumim, which has just recently opened. In addition, many communities have industrial buildings for entrepreneurs from the community.
Since the start of the waves of immigration from the Soviet Union, the Council has received hundreds of new immigrant families. Absorption centers, full of vitality, operate in the communities of Shavei Shomron and Einav, and recently a new center has been opened in the community of Hinanit, in the Northern Shomron. To date, more than 700 new immigrants stayed at these absorption centers, most of them remaining to live in the Shomron. In conjunction with the absorption program, is a conversion program.
In every community there is a daycare center and kindergartens. The Council has nine regional elementary schools: at Elon Moreh, Shaked, Shavei-Shomron, Avnei-Hefetz, Tal-Menashe, Peduel, Sharei Tikva and Yakir, and four high schools: Ulpanat Lehava in Kedumim, Yeshivat HaShomron at Karnei Shomron (which have been there since the time when these communities were part of the Council), Yeshivat Hitsim at Itamar, and Ulpanat Tzvia at Revava. The Council has a number of High Yeshivot, Hesder Yeshivot, and Army Preparatory Programs.
The College of Judea and Samaria, which operates at the college campus in Ariel, makes it possible for Shomron residents to acquire broad, high level academic education, and to complete academic learning near home.
Every community has a resident’s clubhouse, office, and additional public institutions (health clinic, library, general store, etc.)
The Council has a “Matnas” (Cultural Department of the Council) and each community has a Cultural Chairman and local and regional cultural activities.
Within the boundaries of the Council are well known tourist attractions- the National Park of Sebastia, and the Samaritan Site on Mount Grizim. The Shomron Field School (in Shavei Shomron), Helkat HaSadeh Field School (in Elon Moreh) and the Itamar Field School (in Itamar) perform educational work with youths and visitors.
The new communities in the Shomron are all built in the Land of the Bible, the Land of the Patriarchs, birthplace of the People of Israel. Ancient Shomron (Sebastia), the Capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel “returned to life” with the first Aliyah of the Elon Moreh settlement group to the old railroad station in Sebastia (the Railroad of the Emek), in Hanukah 1974. After an additional 8 attempts, the community of Kedumim was established, first of the settlements in Shomron. The struggle of the Elon Moreh settlement group brought about the founding of some 80 communities in Shomron and Binyamin, and tens of additional communities in Yehuda and the South Hebron Hills.
The Shomron- a region that blends old with new, nurses from the past- and faces the future.
ראש המועצה
