The Israeli flag flies over the settlement at Shilo, Samaria.1978.
This religious settlement was established near the site of the biblical city of the same name, which became a center for worship when the Israelites, after their trek through the Sinai Desert, captured the land from the Canaanites and set up the Ark of the Covenant there.A majority of settlers in the West Bank are religious, and are motivated by the historical connection with the biblical territories of Judea in the southern sector and Samaria in the north.