The Shomron

Shavei Shomron (Hebrew: שבי שומרון‎, lit. Returnees of Samaria) is a Jewish town in the Shomron, founded in 1977. Located to the west of Shechem on the road to Tulkarm, Shavei Shomron is a communal settlement within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. As of 2003, it had a population of 604, mostly religious Zionist and Modern Orthodox Jews. Its municipal jurisdiction is 664 dunams, of which 272 dunams are built up.

In late 1976, Gush Emunim activists first arrived at the abandoned Sebastia railroad station. The location is in proximity to the ruins of Samaria, the capital city of the northern Kingdom of Israel, built by King Omri. As justification to secure the Israeli claim to the region, the demonstrators demanded that settlement be initiated in this region. With the support of newly elected Prime Minister Menachem Begin, a residential community was built the following year alongside a military base at a strategically valuable crossroads by residents of nearby Netanya, and with the assistance of the Amana settlement organisation.

The community boasts a swimming pool, ulpan for observant newcomers, and picturesque views of the Samarian hills, which serve to attract a diverse population including many olim from English speaking countries as well as Russian Jews from the former USSR, Yemenite Jews, Bnei Menashe, and almost a dozen Incan Jewish families from Trujillo, Peru that converted to Orthodox Judaism.