Kfar Etzion

History

Migdal Eder (1927–1929)

In January 1927, the Zikhron David society, a group of Orthodox Jews from the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, established a small farming community, Migdal Eder, on land near to the present site of Kfar Etzion. The name was taken from a verse in the Bible, Genesis 35:21, which referred to a tower of the same name. A group of 15 families, including 12 Yemenite families, settled on the land. In the fall of 1926, the society acquired 4,000 dunams in the area, although it received official title deeds for only 1,200 dunams.

El haHar company (1933–1936)

The El haHar ("to the mountain") settlement company was founded by Shmuel Zvi Holzmann in 1933. Holzmann bought land (5000 dunams), mostly from Migdal Eder, and leased land from a nearby Russian convent. However workers preparing the site left in 1936 due to the beginning of the Arab Revolt and harassment by local Arabs. Much of the land was purchased by the Jewish National Fund to keep it in Jewish hands.

Old Kfar Etzion (1943–1948)

In the early 1940s, additional land in the area was purchased by the Jewish National Fund, including some from a Benedictine monastery and some from Arabs (despite the 1939 White Paper's ban on land sales to Jews in the area). The site of Kfar Etzion was settled in 1943 by Kvutzat Avraham of the religious Hapoel HaMizrachi movement. During the next four years, three additional kibbutzim were founded in the area, creating what became known as the Etzion bloc. All of them were destroyed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the entire area came under Jordanian rule.

The kibbutzim held off the attacks for ten days until Kfar Etzion fell on 14 May 1948. In the fighting, 157 Jewish defenders died, including a number who were the subjects of the Kfar Etzion massacre, killed after surrendering. The other three kibbutzim surrendered. The inhabitants there were taken as prisoners of war and released nine months later.

File:The four kibbutzes of the Gush Etzion Bloc (Kfar Etzion, Ein Zurim, Massuot Yitzhak, Revadim) overlaid on the 1943 Survey of Palestine map of Beit Fajjar.jpg|The four kibbutzes of the Gush Etzion at the time of the 1948 war (Kfar Etzion, Ein Zurim, Massuot Yitzhak, Revadim) overlaid on a 1943 Survey of Palestine map File:PikiWiki Israel 7264 Kfar Etzion water tank in 1943.jpg|Kfar Etzion water tank, 1943 File:Surif 1945.jpg|Kfar Etzion (Kefir 'Etsyon) 1945, 1:250,000 File:כפר עציון - עבודת יעור-JNF001375.jpeg|Kfar Etzion 1945 File:כפר עציון - נוה עובדיה-JNF045374.jpeg|Neve Ovadia library exterior 1946 File:כפר עציון - אולם קריאה בבית נוה עובדיה ע"ש אברהם כץ חבר כפר עציון שנהרג ביום העליה לחניתה.-JNF045375.jpeg|Kfar Neve Ovadia reading hall File:כפר עציון - מראה חלקי.-JNF045372.jpeg|Kfar Etzion 1946 File:כפר עציון - בהגנה על כפר עציון-JNF032967.jpeg|Kfar Etzion 1947 File:Kfar Etzion 1947.jpg|Kfar Etzion, 1947 File:Kfar Etzion.jpg|Kfar Etzion 1948

New Kfar Etzion (est. 1967)

In 1967 Israel occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day War. The Israeli cabinet decided to re-establish the settlement of Kfar Etzion despite receiving legal advice that establishing such settlements in occupied territory would be illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. A key figure identified with Kfar Etzion's reestablishment after 1967 is Hanan Porat, who lived on the kibbutz as a child prior to its destruction in 1948.

Another figure involved in Kfar Etzion's resettlement is Elyashiv Knohl, a rabbi of the community whose father fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and was captured during the war by the Jordanians. According to Knohl, Kfar Etzion's original settlers were socialists, and members of the kibbutz continue to channel their incomes to a joint account.

In the 2013 Middle East cold snap a meter of snow fell on the Kfar Etzion area.

Museum and tourism

Kfar Etzion houses a museum and archive documenting the history of Gush Etzion, the Gush Etzion Heritage Center.

The kibbutz also houses: the Kfar Etzion Field School, which organises family trips in Gush Etzion and the wider area ("throughout Judea") and runs a bicycle rental; the "Shokoladshik" chocolate workshops; a dairy coffee house, a hummus restaurant and a café-restaurant.

Economy

Residents of Kfar Etzion earn their livelihood growing cherries, flowers, olives, almonds, and grapes. Some raise chickens, and others work in Jerusalem. As of 2012 there was a large clothing store on the settlement. In 2012 the price of a 120-square-meter home on the settlement was ILS1.1 million while the price of a 200-square-meter home was ILS1.8 million.

References

References

1. link. (12 June 2012). Yahav, Nir
2. "Gush Etzion". Gush Etzion.
3. (10 December 2009). "The Geneva Convention". BBC News.
4. (2001). "Jerusalem and its Environs; Quarters, Neighborhoods, Villages 1800–1948". [[The Hebrew University Magnes Press]].
5. "Settlements in Focus: Gush Etzion".
6. Kark and Oren-Nordheim (2001), pp. 338, 358.
7. Ohana, David. (2002). "Kfar Etzion: The Community of Memory and the Myth of Return". Israel Studies.
8. Benny Morris. (3 October 2003). "The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews". I.B.Tauris.
9. Moshe Dayan, ''The Story of My Life''. {{ISBN. 0-688-03076-9. Page 130. Describes negotiations with Abdulla el-Tel about the release of 670 Israelis in the "Jordan POW camp at Mafrak." He states that 320 of them were from the Etzion bloc, including 85 women.
10. Donald Macintyre, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080611213726/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/secret-memo-shows-israel-knew-six-day-war-was-illegal-450410.html ''Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal'']. Independent, 26 May 2007. (on web.archive)
11. Bronner, Ethan. (4 October 2011). "Hanan Porat, Jewish Settlement Leader, Dies at 67". [[The New York Times]].
12. Lis, Jonathan. (5 October 2011). "Hanan Porat, 1943–2011 / Pioneer of settler movement". [[Haaretz]].
13. "Gush Etzion: experience the magic". Gush Etzion Tourism.