Itamar (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, five kilometers southeast of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

[4] The predominantly Orthodox and Religious Zionist Jewish community falls in part[5] within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council.

[14] According to Palestinians at Yanun,[15] before the al-Aqsa Intifada, relations between local villagers and Itamar, the nearest legal settlement, had been on a good footing.

[16] The whole village of Yanun, though never linked to any violence or attack,[15] itself was so harassed by local Itamar hilltop settlers that its entire population was put to flight, and sought refuge in Awarta, and became, according to Joel Greenberg 'the first case in memory in which harassment by Jewish settlers has emptied an entire Palestinian community'.

One visitor at the time remarked that many of its recent residents were immigrants from the former Soviet empire, and from Argentina, who spoke poor Hebrew and dwelt in trailers and appeared to have little awareness of where they were or why anyone should object to their presence there.

[25] Itamar is situated east of the Israeli West Bank barrier, 28 kilometers from the Green line in the region known as "Gav Hahar" (Hump of the Mountain).

Its municipal boundaries extend in a south-east diagonal over an area of some 7,000 dunam including several outposts, the furthest of which is about eight kilometers from Itamar.

[6] Leah Goldsmith, the wife of Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, wrote about the town: It is hill country, tremendously big, picturesque and mysterious, varied with long and wide valleys who resemble a mosaic coat of many colors ranging from pea to deep jade greens and chestnut browns in the winter and spring months.

[30] There are several businesses in the settlement, and many of the residents grow organic crops and raise sheep and goats;[31] larger farms produce a range of further products, such as cheese and olive oil.

[38] Yigal Klein, director of counselors for Bnei Akiva, said, "Many members of the Jewish delegation in France thought they would strengthen the youth of Itamar during their visit, but the opposite was true.

Itamar and its residents have been targeted several times by Palestinians terrorists in the past, three such incidents taking place between May and July 2002, a fourth in August 2004 and another in 2011, which have caused more than a dozen deaths[39][40] while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), human rights organisations and media report an extensive number of violent acts by Itamar settlers against local Palestinians.

According to B'Tselem, "settlers from these settlements have exerted violence against local Palestinians; the Israeli authorities have been delinquent in enforcing the law on the offenders".

"[41]Yaacov Hayman, a Californian immigrant to Itamar, told an interviewer at the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000: "There comes a time when if you want to have peace you have to make war.

[44] However, residents of Itamar and its outposts have been reported harassing local Palestinians, damaging their property and obstructing their access to land, particularly during the olive harvest.

[48] It is alleged that they have set fire to hundreds of olive trees and thousands of dunam of cultivated land belonging to local Palestinians.

Residents of Itamar who were killed in attacks outside the settlement include Gilad Zar (41), Meir Lixenberg (38), Matan Zagron (22), and Eliyahu Asheri (18).

[74] Asheri, a high school student, was kidnapped by Palestinian Tanzim militants in June 2006 while on his way from Beitar Illit to Neveh Tzuf, northwest of Ramallah, and murdered while in captivity.

[76] Rabbi Binyamin Herling (64), a Holocaust survivor, was killed near Itamar on 19 October 2000 when Fatah and Palestinian security forces opened fire on a group of men, women, and children.

[79][80] Yosef Twito (31), father of five, who served as commander of the neighborhood preparedness team, was also shot to death in the attack, as he approached the family's home to help.

[103] In February 2012, more than 1,000 members of the Likud party visited Itamar and planted 1,500 trees in memory of the victims of the Fogel family massacre as part of annual Tu Bishvat festivities throughout Israel.

[106] Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, said that Hakim Awad had used the harvest a year prior to gather information in preparation for the attack,[106] and Brigadier General (Res.)

"[106] According to the Itamar settlers, "In previous years, the yeshiva students had harvested the olives and transferred them to Awarta free of charge".

[109] In March 2012, Attorney Doron Nir Tzvi, legal advisor for the Committee of Samaria Residents, filed a complaint against Haaretz reporter Neri Livneh for describing the town as "especially aggressive" and claiming that "every two years a murderer comes out of there" in a television appearance.

[110] In late 2012, Avri Ran took over a hill, Mitzpeh Shloshet Hayamim, which fellow Itamar residents had planned to turn into a tourist site for its views, and then bulldozed a rockery in order to make building extensions to his farming business.

Itamar residents and its outpost settlers on Hill777, themselves reportedly illegal squatters who had hitherto never expressed any criticisms when Ran took over Palestinian land, raised a complaint to the Samaria Regional Council to intervene and stop him, on the grounds that he has no title to that tract.

The hill is outside the boundaries of the Samaria Regional Council however, and, according to Haaretz, the Israeli Civil Administration has not applied the law to Itamar’s hilltops for a decade and a half.