Supersizing in the Shomron: Israeli locals split over massive settlement expansion plans

While the prime minister was forced to postpone his appearance due to more pressing assignments (like dealing with Iran and other important pursuits), Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz said, “This is a historic agreement that reflects a clear policy of settlement and building the land of our forefathers in practice.”

While many who learned of our address jumped to the conclusion that we were living “illegally,” we had a zoning permit and bought our home legally.  We learned that while our home was legal, there are nuances that determine whether the parcel it’s on is legal or not. This issue is the essence of the change about to be announced.

The Alonai Shiloh (“oaks of Shilo”) neighborhood at the eastern end of Karnei Shomron sits high upon a ridge overlooking Wadi Kana, a beautiful pastoral expanse of hills and grass, terraced trees and trails, and a winding dry wadi bed that exuberantly reclaims its river every winter, producing peeping baby frogs in early spring and deep pools where Bedouin shepherds water their flocks year round.

Until now, the neighborhood along the ridge has been stymied by legal quagmires because land in Alonai Shiloh, which began as a hilltop farm, was never assigned a tabah – zoning plans by the Civil Administration of the West Bank. This made it impossible to obtain a straightforward mortgage on any of the beautiful mostly one-family villas that sit atop the hill. According to Karnei Shomron Mayor Yonatan Kuznitz, this is all about to change, in what he calls a “strategic turning point.”

“We are laying the cornerstone for turning Karnei Shomron into a regional metropolis,” he says proudly, “with the addition of thousands of housing units, top-tier infrastructure, and construction in open areas where no building has taken place until now.”

He adds that this agreement in the West Bank establishes the status of Karnei Shomron as a leading urban center.

The agreement was formulated in cooperation among the Karnei Shomron Council, the government of Israel, and the Israel Land Authority, bringing unprecedented development of approximately NIS 2 billion. It combines the construction of some 5,774 housing units that will extend beyond Alonai Shiloh toward the town of Emmanuel.

The council also promises infrastructure upgrades throughout existing neighborhoods. Originally settled more than 40 years ago, they now include new housing units in modern neighborhoods with deep and comprehensive infrastructure upgrades throughout the existing settlement. There are also parcels dedicated to educational institutions and recreational facilities.

The continuous series of neighborhoods are described as a “holistic urban space that includes high-quality dense construction, a full education campus with dozens of kindergartens and schools, a cultural hall, a country club, and a large commercial center that will serve all residents of the region.”

Improvements to the older sections of the Karnei Shomron area will include resurfacing and repaving roads and burying high-voltage lines underground, as well as improving safety and appearance. The environmental development will also include a new community park with an investment of more than NIS 10 million ($3.2 m), with professional sports fields and leisure facilities, as well as comprehensive transportation arrangements, which includes the paving of new access roads and bike paths.

“It’s like pouring more water into a bucket that’s already overflowing,” says Meira Weber, who has lived in the city since 2019. “Our existing infrastructure is barely supporting the population we have now, especially when it comes to parking and local congestion on the streets. How can we double our population without first addressing these issues?”

Despite the mayor’s assertions to assuage veteran residents, Weber is concerned that existing neighborhoods will be left behind and simultaneously fall apart under the burden of all the new residents.

Chaviva Braun and her husband, Steve, have lived and raised a family in Karnei Shomron for 35 years. Braun, who grew up in Toronto, admits that she is “less than thrilled” with the news.

“This is not the type of lifestyle we moved into to enjoy, and to which I will soon retire. I enjoy the cozy, close-knit, family-like community, where neighbors look out for one another, in good as well as difficult times, particularly having grown up in a big city.”

Indeed, many residents have been living in what are similar to bedroom communities convenient to central Israel, with big American-style homes having front and back yards and lots of open land.

Jared Bruno and his wife visited Karnei Shomron for 10 years before moving there upon making aliyah four years ago. He says they had tried Tiberias and looked at other Shomron communities such as Itamar.

“We only found what we really wanted here,” he says, explaining that he and his neighbors prefer “a village, not a bustling cramped city. A spacious, picturesque, serene village.”

He points out that nearby Arabs build and expand their territory as they please, building empty houses they don’t even live in. Instead of building high-density, small plot development, which he says is contrary to the village-atmosphere model, he feels we [Israel] must act to expand our territory as much as possible.

“The proposed expansion plans lack vision,” Bruno asserts. “Vision of what Karnei Shomron is, where it is going, and what it desires to preserve. Vision of the residents who make their lives here, and not the vision of the administration.”

He is disappointed in the lack of imaginative aesthetic design and planning in the newest developments that have been completed in the past few years. “If the current trend continues, Karnei Shomron will lose much of its charm, appeal, and character that we love so much. Families should have a place besides the park to spend time with each other.”

Residents also complain that traffic on Route 55, the only road into the city, has become increasingly more bottlenecked over the years. A new road, built to allow Shomron residents to bypass small villages, has been plagued by onerous delays and disastrous road accidents, blamed on lack of police manpower.

According to Mayor Kuznitz, the Roof Agreement deal will also address connections to major traffic arteries that will upgrade residents’ accessibility to other parts of the country. Some question whether the funding is actually included in the agreement, and others wonder where the NIS 2 billion is going to come from to begin with.

D’vora Brand, the American-born owner of Brand Realty, which specializes in real estate throughout the Shomron, says the Karnei Shomron plan calls for “urban planned, terraced homes with 21 apartments per 1.224 dunam (roughly ¼ acre of land). The plans for most homes to be built call for high-rise buildings, each containing 10 to 18 floors.”

“There will still be a small percentage of private homes being built in Karnei Shomron,” the real estate company owner explains. “As land throughout Israel grows sparse and building becomes more costly, any private home today is a hard-to-find commodity and will be ultimately worth more.”

With the shekel now outpacing dollars and other currency, Brand says many foreigners are hesitant to purchase right now, which is cutting sales of new homes significantly.

Priced right, she says, they may provide young families with a viable alternative. But she warns, “If the new neighborhoods will be too congested with narrow streets and not enough breathing space, they will not attract young people looking to escape the city.”

Developers, she says, are hungry, and are giving incentives to people who “buy on paper” – commissioning apartments before they are built. These incentives include low percentages upon signing, with the balance due upon receipt of the key. Brand says that the market is so soft that some developers are willing to wait for final payment and even forgo their linkage fee to the building index, which fluctuates and has escalated as high as 5% to 6% in the past.

“This is more than just getting a permit to build a row of houses,” Brand says. “It is literally building a new city – from putting zoning plans on paper to completing all aspects of the infrastructure – roads, pipelines, and electricity – as well as where the schools, recreation and public places will be, and more. They aren’t likely to break ground any time soon.”

Naomi Linder Kahn, the international director of Regavim, an Israeli NGO committed to preserving and enforcing Israeli law and sovereignty across the country, explains that the whole point of a Roof Agreement, as opposed to generic building permits, is that it is dedicated to creating a sustainable infrastructure.

“This is a huge shift and a very positive sign in long-term vision for the Shomron,” she explains. “Instead of a ‘Quick, let’s put something on the ground’ [attitude], a Roof Agreement is all about sustainability and fully developing the infrastructure for Israel’s future population density planning.”

Kahn says that throughout Israel, multi-units are now a requirement, as is the balance of green, commercial, and industrial space.

“This will create more opportunities for employment, more industry, and more security,” she says. “Acting as a sovereign is what creates sovereignty. It is de facto sovereignty, and it will allow the population of Yehuda and Shomron to double in size, and for civilian presence to be strategically placed precisely where we need it to be.”

She points out that young families have been priced out of many communities, even in the Shomron, and why so many communities eventually “age out.” When a young family purchases a single-dwelling home, she explains, they are likely to convert it into a multiple-dwelling unit (yechid diur). D’vora Brand points out that this is illegal. “To legally change the zoning takes a lot of time and money,” she explains.

When it is done illegally, according to Kahn, the infrastructure has not been planned for the new zoning. This causes stress on basic infrastructure in the neighborhood such as parking, water, and electricity. That is why, she says, a Roof Agreement is a good thing – even if it is more urban – because it offers a clear path to the future, something that has never before been done in Yehuda and the Shomron.

Additionally, News 14 announced this week that in Dorot, the farm neighborhood adjacent to Karnei Shomron, 70 hectares (173 acres) of land are expected to be declared state land. This will create a continuous line of settlement between Karnei Shomron, Etz Efraim, and Elkana, and it will ultimately prevent Arab construction in the area – another example of de facto sovereignty.

Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz, says, “The extensive investment in infrastructure, public buildings, and urban development creates a significant leap forward for Karnei Shomron and enables tripling the number of residents, while ensuring planned and balanced growth.”

This is an unprecedented move in the region, based on the understanding that strong settlement is not measured only by the number of housing units but by the quality of life, Katz says.

“We will continue to work toward promoting and signing additional Roof Agreements in the West Bank in the coming year as part of strengthening Jewish settlement and expanding the housing supply,” he asserts.