200 Buses per Day to Annex Gush Etzion

Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?—Acts 7:26

Gush Etzion Regional Council announced on August 10, 2014, the opening of a bus service as part of the Jerusalem metropolitan lines. 200 Buses per day will connect the largest settlement bloc in the West Bank* with West Jerusalem in a strategic step towards its annexation.

Symbol of Zionist Settlement

Two symbols of Jewish settlement emerged before the war of 1948. One was the Tower and Stockade+ settlements that conquered the Jezreel and Jordan Valleys. The second was Gush Etzion, an area south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron.


Gus Etzion became a symbol because of its failures and resilience.

In 1927, a group of religious Yemenite Jews founded Migdal Eder, which was abandoned during the 1929 riots.

In 1935, kibbutz Kfar Etzion was founded, creating the name for the entire area. It can be understood as "Tree of Zion" (Etz-Tziyon), but it also honors the name of the Jewish-German businessman that founded it. His name was Shmuel Yosef Holtzmann, "holtz" means "wood." It was abandoned in 1937, due to the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt.


One of the new buses. "Gush Etzion Israeli Home"
1984


Between 1943 and 1947, four kibbutzim were created, three belonging to the Religious Kibbutz and one to the socialist HaShomer HaTzair. On May 13, 1948, hours before Ben Gurion's declaration of independence, the four were conquered by the Arab Legion. The entire population of the re-founded Kfar Etzion was killed.

After the 1967 War, sons and relatives of the original settlers asked to return. A Yeshiva religious college related to the IDF and Kibbutz Kfar Etzion were the first to settle.



Beitar Illit

In 2014, Gush Etzion includes two cities, Beitar Illit and Efrata, and 18 settlements forming the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Overall, the Bloc has over 70,000 Jewish settlers, with almost 50,000 in its largest city, Beitar Illit.

Israel considers this area special within the West Bank due to its history. Kfar Etzion is considered part of the Yishuv, the settlement during the British Mandate and not as part of the post-1967 settlements in the West Bank.











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