Ma'ale Adumim
Hebrew transcription(s)
• Hebrew	מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים, מעלה אדומים
• ISO 259	Maˁle ʔadummim
• Also spelled	Ma'ale Adummim (official)
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	معاليه أدوميم
Logo
Ma'ale Adumim
Coordinates: 31°46′30″N 35°17′53″E / 31.775°N 35.29806°E / 31.775; 35.29806Coordinates: 31°46′30″N 35°17′53″E / 31.775°N 35.29806°E / 31.775; 35.29806
Region	West Bank
District	Judea and Samaria Area
Founded	1976
Government
• Type	City (from 1991)
• Mayor	Benny Kashriel
Area
• Total	49,177 dunams (49.177 km2 or 18.987 sq mi)
Population (2009)[1]
• Total	34,300
Name meaning	Red ascent

Ma'ale Adumim (Hebrew: מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים‎‎) is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, seven kilometers from Jerusalem.^[2] Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. In 2011, the population was 39,000.^[2] Ma'ale Adumim is the third largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank after Modi'in Illit, and Beitar Illit.^[3] The city is located along Highway 1, which connects it to Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area. The international community considers Israeli settlements illegal under international law ^[4], but the Israeli government disputes this.^[5][6] Maale Adumim is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It also is the site of the Good Samaritan parable in the Book of Luke.^[7]

Etymology[link]

The town name "Ma'ale Adumim" is taken from the Joshua 15:7 and Joshua 18:17^[8]: The boundary [of the tribe of Judah] ascended from the Valley of Achor to Debir and turned north to Gilgal, facing the Ascent of Adumim which is south of the wadi. Literally "Red Ascent", it takes its name from the red rock lining the ascent from the Dead Sea.^[9]

History[link]

Ma'ale Adumim was originally a Nahal outpost.^[2] It was designed as a planned community and suburban commuter town to nearby Jerusalem, to which many residents commute daily.^[10] In the early 1970s, Israel's Labor government discussed a plan to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem eastward by founding an industrial zone and a workers' village on the Jericho road.^[11] In the winter of 1975, on the seventh night of Hanukkah, a Gush Emunim group of 23 families and six singles erected a prefabricated concrete structure and two wooden huts at the site now known as "Founder's Circle" in Mishor Adumim. The group was evicted several times. In 1977, after Menachem Begin took office, Ma'ale Adumim was granted official status as a permanent settlement.^[11]

The chief urban planner was architect Rachel Walden. In March 1979, Maaleh Adumim achieved local council status.^[12] The urban plan for Ma'ale Adumim, finalized in 1983, encompasses a total of 35 square kilometers, of which 3.7 square kilometers have been built so far, in a bloc that includes Ma'ale Adumim, Mishor Adumim, Kfar Adumim, and Allon.^[13]

The mayor of Ma'ale Adumim is Benny Kashriel, recently elected to a third term by a large majority.

Geography[link]

The city is surrounded on four sides by the Judean Desert^[2] and is linked to Jerusalem and Gush Dan via Highway 1. Due to its strategic location between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, Palestinians see this as a threat to the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state. This claim is disputed by mayor Benny Kashriel, who claims that continuity would be attained by circling Ma'ale Adumim to the east.^[15] Israeli drivers use a bypass road that exits the city to the west, entering Jerusalem through the French Hill Junction or a tunnel that goes under Mt. Scopus. These routes were built in the wake of the First and Second Intifadas when Palestinian militants shot at motorists and cars were stoned. The previous road passes through al-Eizariya and Abu Dis.

Land ownership[link]

Children's park overlooking Judean Desert, Ma'ale Adumim

Peace Now, an Israeli NGO, initially claimed that 86.4% of Ma'ale Adumim was privately owned Palestinian land, basing the figure on data leaked from a government report.^[16][17] After Peace Now petitioned the Israeli courts to have the official data released, the group revised the figure to 0.5%.^[17] Palestinians claim lands from the villages of Abu Dis, al-Eizariya, Al-Issawiya, At-Tur and 'Anata were expropriated for building in Ma'aleh Adumim.^[18] Under Islamic land law, the land in question was categorized as arazi mewat, or "dead lands." ^[19] The 1858 Ottoman Land Law defines it as "Khalz land which is not in the possession of anybody, and, not having been left or assigned to the inhabitants, is distant from town or village so that the loud voice of a person from the extreme inhabited spot cannot be heard, that is about a mile and a half to the extreme inhabited spot, or a distance of about half an hour."^[20]

Economy[link]

Ma'ale Adumim municipality

Many residents of Maaleh Adumim are employed in Jerusalem. Others work in Mishor Adumim, Ma’ale Adumim’s industrial park, which is located on the road to the Dead Sea, about ten minutes from Jerusalem. The industrial zone houses 220 businesses,^[2] among them textile plants, garages, food manufacturers, aluminum and metalworking factories, and printing companies.^[21]

Demographics[link]

In 2004, over seventy percent of the residents were secular. According to the municipal spokesman, the overwhelming majority moved to the city not for ideological reasons but for lower-cost housing and higher living standards. In 2004, 48 percent of residents were under the age of 18. Ma'aleh Adumim's unemployment rate was 2.1 percent, far below the national average.^[11]

Education and culture[link]

Alei Higayon BeKinnor (Machanaim) synagogue on Hallil Street

In 2011, Ma'ale Adumim had 21 schools and 80 kindergartens.^[2] A large portion of Ma'ale Adumim's budget is spent on education. Schools offer after-school programs, class trips, and tutoring where needed. A special program has been developed for new immigrant children. Additional resources are invested in special education and classes for gifted children, including a special after-school program for honors students in science and math.^[21] Ma'ale Adumim College was situated in the city, but is currently defunct. Religious elementary schools in Ma’ale Adumim include Ma’aleh Hatorah, Sde Chemed, and Tzemach Hasadeh. Religious high schools are Yeshiva Tichonit, Tzvia and Amit. The city has over 40 synagogues and several yeshivas, among them Yeshivat Birkat Moshe.^[22] Ma'aleh Adumim has won the Israel Ministry of Education prize for excellence twice. It has also won the national prize for environmental quality in recognition of its emphasis on urban planning, green space, playgrounds and outdoor sculptures.^[11]

Healthcare[link]

Rabbi Mordechai Nagari, Sephardi chief rabbi of Ma'ale Adumim

Medical services are provided in the city through all four Health maintenance organizations (kupot holim). There is also a large geriatric hospital, Hod Adumim, also providing care for recuperating patients and chronic patients. It is also used for senior citizens residence. It has facilities for nursing, the elderly, the handicapped, through the most extreme needs.

Legal issues[link]

In 2005, a report by John Dugard for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights stated that the "three major settlement blocs - Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel - will effectively divide Palestinian territory into cantons or Bantustans."^[23] Israel says the solution is a by-pass road similar to those used daily by Israelis to avoid driving through hostile Arab areas. The 07 development project in east Ma'ale Adumim was supported by Ariel Sharon in 2005.^[24] Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the 07 extension plan is a violation of the roadmap peace plan, under which Israel agreed to freeze all building in the settlements.

In 2008, a project to link Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem, known as the E1 project - short for "East 1," as it appears on old zoning maps - was criticized by the Palestinian Authority, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US President George W. Bush.^[25] As a result, a plan for 3,500-5,000 homes in Mevaseret Adumim was frozen.^[26] The new Judea and Samaria District police headquarters, formerly located in the Ras el-Amud neighborhood of Jerusalem, was completed in May 2008.^[27]

According to the BBC, Ma'ale Adumim is widely regarded by international community as illegal under international law according to the Fourth Geneva Convention (article 49), which prohibits an occupying power transferring citizens from its own territory to occupied territory. Israel maintains that international conventions relating to occupied land do not apply to the West Bank because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state in the first place.^[15] This view was rejected law by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross.^[28]

Housing shortage[link]

Ma'ale Adumim yeshiva

One of the purposes of establishing Ma'aleh Adumim was to supply affordable housing for young couples who could not afford the high cost of homes in Jerusalem. Although the municipal boundaries cover 48,000 dunams, the city has been suffering from an acute housing shortage since 2009 due to the freeze on new construction. Most of the real-estate market in 2011 is in second-hand properties.^[2]

Archaeology[link]

Monastery of Martyrius

The Byzantine monastery of Martyrius, once the most important monastic centre in the Judean Desert in the early Christian era, is located in Ma'ale Adumim.^[29] Other archeological sites on the outskirts of Ma'ale Adumim include the Khan el-Hatruri,^[30] also known as the Inn of the Good Samaritan (cited in a parable by Jesus, in Luke 10:30-37),^[31] and the remains of the Monastery of St. Euthymius built in the 5th century and destroyed by the Mamluk sultan Baybars.^[32] Khan al-Ahmar is a 13th century travelers inn for pilgrims on the route between Jerusalem and Mecca via Nabi Musa.^[33]

Landmarks[link]

Moshe Castel Museum in Ma'ale Adumim

The Moshe Castel Museum showcases the work of Israeli artist Moshe Castel.^[34] Mizpe Edna is a lookout at the Shofar and Hallil junction.

Sister cities[link]

• Williamsport, Pennsylvania ^[35]

References[link]

Panorama of Ma'ale Adumim

External links[link]

• Official municipal website
• Unofficial city website
• Americans for Peace Now report on E-1 and Ma’ale Adumim
• "Sharon pledges settlement growth", BBC
• Bush warns Israel over West Bank, BBC
• Israel plan for new settler homes, BBC
• History of Ma'aleh Adummim
• UrbanIsrael Site: About Ma'ale Adumim: Historical, Social and Cultural Links
• Peace Now’s Blunder: Erred on Ma'ale Adumim Land by 15,900 Percent
• Nefesh B'Nefesh Community Guide for Ma'ale Adumim, Israel
• Tehilla Community Guide for Ma'ale Adumim, Israel
• Places To Visit In Israel - Ma'ale Adumim
• There is water under the desert
• MAchat - Ma'ale Adumim English Speakers Community Website

v t e Judea and Samaria Area Cities Ariel · Beitar Illit · Ma'ale Adumim · Modi'in Illit Regional committee Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron Local councils Alfei Menashe · Beit Aryeh-Ofarim · Beit El · Efrat · Elkana · Giv'at Ze'ev · Har Adar · Immanuel · Karnei Shomron · Kedumim · Kiryat Arba · Ma'ale Efrayim · Oranit Regional councils Gush Etzion · Har Hevron · Mateh Binyamin · Megilot Dead Sea · Shomron · Southern Jordan Valley (Bik'at HaYarden) Region: West Bank Other sub-divisions: Center District · Haifa District · Jerusalem District · North District · South District · Tel Aviv District See also: Population statistics · Israeli settlement  · Israeli settlement timeline · Israeli West Bank barrier

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Jeff Halper
Born	1946 Minnesota
Residence	Israel
Nationality	United States/Israel (dual nationality)
Education	Macalester College (BA); University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (Ph.D) in Anthropology
Occupation	retired lecturer, director of Israeli NGO
Known for	founder and Director of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Spouse	Shoshana Halper
Children	Efrat, Yshai, Yair
Website
ICAHD website

Jeff Halper (born 1946^[1]) is an anthropologist,^[2] author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). In 1997, Halper co-founded ICAHD to challenge and resist the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories, and to organize Israelis, Palestinians and international volunteers to jointly rebuild demolished Palestinian homes. He has created a new mode of Israeli peace activity based on nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories.^[1] Halper was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the American Friends Service Committee for his work "to liberate both the Palestinian and the Israeli people from the yoke of structural violence" and "to build equality between their people by recognizing and celebrating their common humanity".

Halper has written several books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is a frequent writer and speaker about Israeli politics, focusing mainly on nonviolent strategies to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In an April 2012 interview, Halper agrees with Mahdi Abdul Hadi, head of PASSIA, that the "Palestinians are paralysed." He also said that "Israel will not succeed in gaining acceptance by the Muslim world" and that "Palestine is like a [fish] bone in the throat of Muslims."^[3]

In an interview in 2008, Halper said "I think it is impossible to have a Jewish state."^[4]

Early career[link]

Halper grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, and became involved in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s.^[5]

Halper was an outside lecturer in anthropology at the University of Haifa and Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. His academic research focused on the history of Jerusalem in the modern era, contemporary Israeli culture, and the Middle East conflict. In addition to teaching and research, Halper was active on issues of social justice within Israel. He worked as a community volunteer for ten years in Jerusalem’s inner city neighborhoods, and was one of the founders of Ohel - a social protest movement of working-class Mizrahi Jews. He served as the Chairman of the Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews, having been active on issues concerning the rights of Ethiopian Jews and researching the community in Ethiopia in the mid-1960s.

Founding of ICAHD[link]

In 1997, Halper co-founded the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions to challenge and resist government policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories. According to ICAHD, since 1967 more than 18,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories have been destroyed by the Israeli military or civil authorities.^[6] According to Halper, 5% of home demolitions have to do with security. Some of the demolished homes are on Palestinian private property. Halper says Israel employs various means to prevent normal living conditions for the Palestinians, including land expropriation, discriminatory planning and zoning policies, restrictive granting of building permits and the demolition of Palestinian homes. The reason for this, according to Halper, is purely political: to confine more than three million residents in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to small, impoverished and disconnected enclaves, rather than security for Israeli citizens.^[7]

As ICAHD's Coordinating Director, Halper has organized and led direct action against Israeli policies. He has faced bulldozers in front of Palestinian homes.^[1] He organizes Palestinians, and internationals to help rebuild demolished Palestinian homes.^[8] On April 3, 2008, Halper was arrested for the eighth time while protesting the bulldozing of a home in a Palestinian neighborhood.

Typically, ICAHD will get a call from a Palestinian family telling them the bulldozers have arrived. ICAHD sends out an action alert and activists from different groups go out and engage in civil disobedience by standing up to the bulldozers. ICAHD also raises funds to rebuild these homes right where they had been before.^[5] Under Halper's leadership, ICAHD uses dialogue between groups to open communication, foster reconciliation and challenge stereotypes. ICAHD works in coalition with a wide range of Israeli left-wing organizations including: Bat Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights, Gush Shalom and the Alternative Information Center, as well as Palestinian groups such as the Land Defense Committee, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) and Rapprochement.^[8]

Halper was a "member of the support committee" for the Russell Tribunal on Palestine.^[9]

Published books[link]

• An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel, Pluto Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7453-2226-1
• Between Redemption and Revival: The Jewish Yishuv in Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century, Westview, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8133-7855-8
• The Falashas: An Analysis of Their History, Religion and Transitional Society, University of Minnesota, 1966

Selected published articles[link]

• "Rethinking Israel After 60 Years", Counterpunch.org, May 15, 2008
• "When the Roadmap is a One Way Street", Counterpunch.org, November 28, 2007
• "Whose Road Map?", Jerusalem Post, November 7, 2007
• "A Just Israeli-Palestinian Peace: Towards an Integrated Strategy", MiddleEastWindow.com, 2005
• "'We've gone way beyond Apartheid'". Al Jazeera. 2 May 2012. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/2012428124445821996.html. 

See also[link]

• House Demolitions in the West Bank
• Aqabah

References[link]

External links[link]

• ICAHD website
• ICAHD-USA website
• VIDEO Jeff Halper talks on Israeli - Palestinian relations on ABC FORA
• video interview with Jeff Halper