Shvut Rachel

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from two Palestinian villages for the establishment of Shvut Rachel: 372 dunams (37.2 hectares) of land from Turmus Ayya, and 963 dunams (96.3 hectares) from Qaryut/Jalud.

The village was founded in November 1991 in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack on a civilian bus; Rachela Druk of Shilo, a mother of 7, and Yitzhak Rofe, the bus driver – who were on their way to a demonstration in Tel Aviv. On the night of the funerals, a group of students from the yeshiva in Shilo as well as two young couples, including a pregnant woman who gave birth a week later, established Shvut Rachel. The settlers moved on to the land without government permission.

In February 2012 the Israeli government approved the construction of new housing units in Shvut Rachel. This action was condemned by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Catherine Ashton.

Legal status

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Israel, on the other hand, differentiates between "legal" and "illegal" settlements, and Shvut Rachel was illegal even by Israeli standards until February 2012. According to Peace Now, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories legalized the outpost by redesignating it as a neighborhood of Shilo. On March 22, 2025, the Israeli government legalized Shvut Rachel as a separate settlement.