Alon, Mateh Binyamin

Alon or Allon (Hebrew: אַלּוֹן‎) is an Israeli settlement organized as a communal settlement in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. Alon is located to the east of Jerusalem, near Ma'ale Adumim, and along the edge of the Judean desert. The village has a diverse religiously observant and secular population.

Map of Alon

Named after Yigal Allon, it was founded in 1990 by a number of area residents under the aegis of the Amana settlement organisation, it was originally considered to be part of the nearby Kfar Adumim so as to minimise opposition in an atmosphere in which the question of settlement was becoming increasingly controversial. Children study in a mixed secular/observant public-religious school in nearby Kfar Adumim, and attend highschool in Jerusalem.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. According to the Palestinian NGO Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, Alon is located on land confiscated from the Palestinian town of 'Anata.

Alon was one of a number of settlements linked by a road secretly built by settlers in 1995. The road links Anatot to Kfar Adumim, Nofei Prat, and Alon. According to Pinhas Wallerstein, then head of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, the road was one of a number of secretly built roads under construction in the area. Wallerstein claimed that as council head, he did not need permission to construct roads, but that he would stop construction if told by the Israel Defense Forces. He also said "What are they going to do, tell us to take the road away? If the road is illegal let them take us to court."