 “Dotan Ma’arav” is an educational agricultural farm that was established in 2008 in the Dotan Valley. The farm was established as a continuation of the “Maoz Tzvi” settlement point, which was erected in 2000 in northern Samaria. The Dotan family is the main transit route between Samaria and the northern valleys of Israel, and has high historical and strategic importance. This valley was the site of the Biblical sale of Joseph, and during the Six Day War, the Valley served as the key to the conquest of the entire Samaria region. Until the Disengagement Plan, the Valley served as the main traffic route between central Samaria and the north, and enjoyed a continuity of Jewish settlement with six blossoming communities. After the expulsion, just two individual communities remained, Mevo Dotan and Hermesh, surrounded by Arab settlements, disconnected from the main part of Samaria. The main transportation route in the area is blocked to Jewish traffic The Dotan Valley, an area verdant in fertile State-owned land, was mostly abandoned. Some 10,000 dunams of fertile land, mostly JNF forests that are more than 25 years old, were left unsupervised and uncared for. |