3. Vast Land Reserves - Empty and Uninhabited
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One of the most remarkable features of the Shomron is its vast and sweeping vistas of verdant rolling hills, craggy rock outcroppings and terraced landscapes. This pastoral scenery, seemingly unchanged since Biblical days, presents a mosaic of rocky hilltops and fertile valleys, dotted with groves of age-old, silver-green olive trees. The terraced hillsides, first developed by farmers in ancient times, blend into the natural landscape. From every hilltop, the perfumed mountain air and dazzling views excite the senses.
While city dwellers in Israel's over-crowded center (coastal plain) live cheek-to-jowl in concrete jungles, vying for scarce living space and parking spots, enduring traffic jams, pollution and high prices, Shomron residents for the most part enjoy a quieter and more simple life, free from big-city pressures, competition and high costs of living.
Traffic jam, Tel Aviv Traffic jam, Shomron
Ironically, not only is the Samarian countryside not far from the busy central region but it indeed lies just east of it. Thanks to new and upgraded road infrastructure, travel to and from the center is quick and painless, giving Shomron residents the advantage of both serene country living and easy access to the big city. See this cool computer simulated Shomron fly-over. This will give you a good idea how barren and wide open this area is and how much potential it holds for land-scarce Israel.
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The Shomron Regional and Local Councils' landmass (approx. 2800 sq. km.) equals over 13% of pre-1967 Israel and nearly twice that of Israel's over-populated coastal Gush Dan region (1470 sq. km.). It is also geographically centered, providing important
territorial contiguity between the densely populated urban centers to the west and the strategic Jordan Valley buffer zone to the east.
Just how empty is the Shomron? Jewish built-up settlements areas take up a mere 1.5% of the land while Palestinian built-up areas cover roughly 5-6%. This means that at least 90% of the Shomron landmass is uninhabited, allowing for plenty of living space and elbow room for both Jews and Arabs.
Plentiful Shomron land also means much lower real estate prices. While a duman of buildable land in the super-heated Sharon region real estate marketplace may easily go for $1 million or more, that same dunam in the Shomron, depending on where, will cost just five to ten cents on the dollar, sometimes even less. Raw agricultural Shomron land typically trades in the $5,000 per dunam range.
One of the most remarkable features of the Shomron is its vast and sweeping vistas of verdant rolling hills, craggy rock outcroppings and terraced landscapes. This pastoral scenery, seemingly unchanged since Biblical days, presents a mosaic of rocky hilltops and fertile valleys, dotted with groves of age-old, silver-green olive trees. The terraced hillsides, first developed by farmers in ancient times, blend into the natural landscape. From every hilltop, the perfumed mountain air and dazzling views excite the senses.
While city dwellers in Israel's over-crowded center (coastal plain) live cheek-to-jowl in concrete jungles, vying for scarce living space and parking spots, enduring traffic jams, pollution and high prices, Shomron residents for the most part enjoy a quieter and more simple life, free from big-city pressures, competition and high costs of living.
Ironically, not only is the Samarian countryside not far from the busy central region but it indeed lies just east of it. Thanks to new and upgraded road infrastructure, travel to and from the center is quick and painless, giving Shomron residents the advantage of both serene country living and easy access to the big city. See this cool computer simulated Shomron fly-over. This will give you a good idea how barren and wide open this area is and how much potential it holds for land-scarce Israel.
bbbbbbbnnnnnnnnnbbbbbbb
The Shomron Regional and Local Councils' landmass (approx. 2800 sq. km.) equals over 13% of pre-1967 Israel and nearly twice that of Israel's over-populated coastal Gush Dan region (1470 sq. km.). It is also geographically centered, providing important
territorial contiguity between the densely populated urban centers to the west and the strategic Jordan Valley buffer zone to the east.
Just how empty is the Shomron? Jewish built-up settlements areas take up a mere 1.5% of the land while Palestinian built-up areas cover roughly 5-6%. This means that at least 90% of the Shomron landmass is uninhabited, allowing for plenty of living space and elbow room for both Jews and Arabs.
Plentiful Shomron land also means much lower real estate prices. While a duman of buildable land in the super-heated Sharon region real estate marketplace may easily go for $1 million or more, that same dunam in the Shomron, depending on where, will cost just five to ten cents on the dollar, sometimes even less. Raw agricultural Shomron land typically trades in the $5,000 per dunam range.
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| Half of our eggs in one basket: At least three million Israeli Jews, half of Israel's Jewish population, are crammedinto the teeming and polluted Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area (Gush Dan), an area covering a mere 6.2% of Greater (post 1967) Israel. By contrast, the Shomron Regional and Local Councils cover an area almost twice that size and is home to slightly over 80,000 Jews, or just one-seventieth (1.43%) the Jewish population density of Gush Dan! Are such lopsided population concentrations in Israel's best interest? Is this how the Israeli government plans for the future? Is it responsible to allow such extreme population concentrations in the middle of a potential war zone? Jordan is Palestine
Jordan occupies 77% of Mandatory Palestine
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Interviews with the Author
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Rights Neglected become...
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A Report of Great Import
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UN Resolutions for Dummies
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 are considered to be the key to any realistic solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Resolution 242, adopted after the 1967 War, sets out the criteria for peace-making. Resolution 338, passed six years later, makes resolution 242 legally binding.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Unfortunately, confusion reigns, even in high places, about what those resolutions require. Learn more here.
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Snapshots of Samaria
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Shomron Guest House
The Beit Yosef Guest House, nestled in the rolling hills of Samaria, is the ideal spot for your next trip to the Shomron.
Be sure to check out their special deals. Click here for more info.
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The Fall of a Giant
Attorney Howard Grief, one of the world's leading authorities on the legal rights of Israel and the Jewish People to the Land of Israel, passed away Sunday, June 2nd, 2013, at the age of 73. Attorney Grief was a modern-day hero of the Nation of Israel. His knowledge of the Jewish legal rights to Greater Israel was encyclopedic and recently authored the book "Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel and Palestine under International Law". He was a passionate Israel lover and an indefatigable fighter for the rights of the Jewish People to their homeland. May his memory be an everlasting blessing for all who love and cherish Eretz Yisrael.
Blogroll and Links
About me, King AhabFollowers |
NO JEW HAS THE RIGHT TO GIVE UP
ReplyDelete(Eretz Yisrael) THE LAND OF ISRAEL
By David Ben Gurion
"No Jew has the right to yield the rights of the Jewish People in Israel. No Jew has the authority to do so. No Jewish body has the authority to do so. Not even the entire Jewish People alive today has the right to yield any part of Israel.
It is the right of the Jewish People over the generations, a right that under no conditions can be cancelled. Even if Jews during a specific period proclaim they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the authority to deny it to future generations. No concession of this type is binding or obligates the Jewish People.
Our right to the country - the entire country - exists as an eternal right, and we shall not yield this historic right until its full and complete redemption is realized."
This quotation of David Ben Gurion made at the Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1937, more than 65 years ago. At the Freeman Center, we quote this profound statement often.
NO JEW HAS THE RIGHT TO GIVE UP
ReplyDelete(Eretz Yisrael) THE LAND OF ISRAEL
By David Ben Gurion
"No Jew has the right to yield the rights of the Jewish People in Israel. No Jew has the authority to do so. No Jewish body has the authority to do so. Not even the entire Jewish People alive today has the right to yield any part of Israel.
It is the right of the Jewish People over the generations, a right that under no conditions can be cancelled. Even if Jews during a specific period proclaim they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the authority to deny it to future generations. No concession of this type is binding or obligates the Jewish People.
Our right to the country - the entire country - exists as an eternal right, and we shall not yield this historic right until its full and complete redemption is realized."
This quotation of David Ben Gurion made at the Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1937, more than 65 years ago. At the Freeman Center, we quote this profound statement often.