Kibbutz Galuyot: For the first time, new immigrants from Togo in Africa have arrived to settle in the Shomron Regional Council. The Niajabah family, consisting of five members, settled in the community of Yakir last summer as part of the council's communal aliyah project. Yossi Dagan, the head of the Shomron Regional Council, welcomed the initiative, saying: "The Shomron is the home of Jews from all over the world."
The couple, Shmuel and Sarah, share the reason they specifically chose to establish their residence in the Shomron: "Here, the stories of the Tanakh (Bible) unfolded," they said, and added, "We were amazed to discover that the stories of the Tanakh happened here, in the very place where we walk. The neighbors welcomed us like family, the warm embrace astonished and moved us. This is perhaps the most astonishing thing of all, that here you are not alone." Shmuel works as a web developer, and Sarah is an alternative allergy therapist.
Yossi Dagan: "Our duty is to bring immigrants from all over the world to Samaria"
During the past six years, around 100 families have settled in the Shomron region. The Niajabah family arrived as part of a group of immigrants from France who made Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and settled in the Yakir community in the Shomron during the summer. The project of absorbing immigrants from France to the Shomron has been taking place in the past eight years, led by the Shomron Regional Council in collaboration with the Kehilot Israel Absorption Association and in partnership with the Amana Movement.
As part of the project, more than a hundred families of immigrants from France have already arrived in the Shomron region. To this day, the community absorption project led by the Shomron Regional Council has achieved a 100% success rate. All the immigrants who arrived through community absorption have remained in the country, with most of them choosing to reside in the Shomron.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, stated: "The community absorption project to the Shomron is one of our flagship projects. It is our right and duty to bring immigrants from all around the world back home to the Shomron. The Niajabah family is the first family to come from a distant place like Togo, and the Shomron is an open home for everyone."