Ma'ale Levona
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| Ma'ale Levona | ||
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| Hebrew | מעלה לבונה | |
| Name Meaning | Ascent of Frankincense | |
| Founded in | 1983 | |
| Government | ||
| District | Judea and Samaria (West Bank) | |
| Population | 514 (2004) | |
| Jurisdiction | dunams | |
Ma'ale Levona (Hebrew: מעלה לבונה), is a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. "Ma'ale Levonah" means "Ascent of Frankincense" in Hebrew.
It overlooks its namesake, an ancient mountain pass noteworthy as the site of the first Maccabeean victory against the Selucids. The mountain pass, "the Ascent of Levonah" is to the east of the village and links the Levonah valley to its north with the Shiloh valley to its south.
The "Levonah valley" is probably named for the frankincense grown there in biblical days for the incense used in the Tabernacle of near-by Shiloh. There was an Israelite village on the edge of the valley that also carried the name "Levonah" ( see Judges 21:19). The name of that ancient site is preserved in the name of the nearest Arab village which today occupies its place- "Lubban ash-Sharkiya" (Eastern Levonah).
The village was initially established as a Nahal outpost and was later turned into a civilian Israeli settlement, under the municipal jurisdiction of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council. It is located in Samaria (northern West Bank), in the Shilo-Eli bloc near Ariel.
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