Mevo Dotan

Mevo Dotan
מְבוֹא דּוֹתָן

Road sign leading to Mevo Dotan
Mevo Dotan
Coordinates: 32°25′12.39″N 35°10′10.24″E / 32.4201083°N 35.1695111°E / 32.4201083; 35.1695111Coordinates: 32°25′12.39″N 35°10′10.24″E / 32.4201083°N 35.1695111°E / 32.4201083; 35.1695111
District Judea and Samaria Area
Region Samaria
Affiliation Orthodox Jewish
Founded 1977
Founded by Amana
Population (2015) 432[1]

Mevo Dotan (Hebrew: מְבוֹא דּוֹתָן; lit. Dothan's approach) is a communal village and an Israeli settlement in the northern Samarian hills [2] part of the West Bank south of the Dotan Valley within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It is named for being on the way to the ancient town of Dothan (Gen 37:17)). The village, situated on road 585 east of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, lies adjacent to the Palestinian village of Yabad. The population of Mevo Dotan is 63 families.

Mevo Dotan was originally established in October 1977 by a group of religious Orthodox and non-religious Jewish Israelis who lived in tents adjacent to the police building of Sa-Nur. The group was relocated to its current permanent hilltop location in June 1981 with the aid of the Amana settlement organization. The local Arab residents had called that hilltop the 'Bald Mountain' (Jabl al-Akra) because of its barren state. One of the reasons for choosing this location was to settle state-owned lands in an area that had no Jewish population. Over the years, many of the religious families moved away.

In 2001, following the outbreak of the Second Intifada, and the degradation of the security level in the area, almost half the residents left the village. The heads of the village committee called for public assistance in repopulating the empty homes and in 2003, the 'Golan Yeshiva' decided to accept the challenge. Several families moved to the village, founded a kollel and rejuvenated the religious life in the village.

Alonei Arava Nature Reserve

Two kilometers south of Mevo Dotan is the Alonei Arava Nature Reserve, named after the oak trees (alonim) that grow in the area and the nearby Arab village of Arrabeh. East of the nature reserve is Jabal al-Aqra' (326 m), and the nature reserve overlaps the hill's northwest range.[3]

External links

References

  1. http://www.inn.co.il/Articles/Article.aspx/14370
  2. Mevo Dotan
  3. Hareuveni, Imanuel (1985). קום התהלך בארץ: מדריך שמורות טבע בישראל [Nature Reserves in Israel] (in Hebrew) (2nd ed.). Israel: Israel Ministry of Defense. p. 226. ISBN 965-05-0193-2. שם השמורה – לפי עצי האלון הגדלים בה ולפי הצורה העברית של שם הכפר הסמוך ערבה (בו מוצע לזהות, לפי אחת הסברות, את אֲרֻבּוֹת, מרכז המחוז התשיעי של מלכות שלמה ועיר מושבו של הנציב השלישי, מ-12 נציביו של המלך שלה [מל"א ד', 4, 10])." "השמורה משתרעת על שלוחה צפ'-מע' של ג'בל אל-אקרע המתנשאת לרום 276 מ'.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.