According to
ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from several
Palestinian villages in order to construct Alfei Menashe: • 1,943 dunums of land (43.8% of the total village lands) was taken from
Nabi Ilyas, • 651 dunums of land were taken from
‘Arab Abu Farda, • 131 dunums of land were taken from
Islah, • 51 dunes were taken from
Ras Atiya. The town's proximity to the
Green Line (less than east) and its similar proximity to the
Palestinian Arab town of
Qalqilyah has made its inclusion on the
Israeli side of the
West Bank barrier controversial, especially as the looping nature of the barrier's path forms a quasi-enclave of some
Palestinian villages to its south. In September 2005,
Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the government must consider re-routing the barrier in this area. Work was begun in the summer of 2009 to construct a new route for the barrier, which will no longer incorporate the Palestinian village of
Ras al-Tira (and several other villages) on the Israeli side. The work was finished in 2011. (source: Google Earth) The settlement is the hometown of Israel's most successful
mixed martial artist Noad Lahat. ==References==