Alon Shvut is an
Israeli settlementIsraeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories . Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights...
and a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
Judean MountainsThe Judean Mountains, also referred to as the Judean Hills or Hebron Hills and Jibal al-Khalil, is the name for the mountain range in Israel and the West Bank where Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located.Running generally north-south, the mountains extend both to the...
of the southern
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
, administered by the
Gush Etzion Regional CouncilThe Gush Etzion Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Judean hills, or rather, the northern part of the southern area of the West Bank, administering the settlements in the Gush Etzion region, as well as others nearby...
. The
communal settlementA community settlement is a type of town in Israel. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the town's residents, who are organized in a cooperative, can veto a sale of a house or a business to an undesirable buyer.By this selection process, a community...
, located south‑west of
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
, between the Biblical cities of
BethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
and
HebronHebron is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to some 166,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Israelis living in and around the historic Jewish Quarter. Hebron lies 930 meters above sea level...
, serves as a regional center for the communities of the
Gush EtzionGush Etzion refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War: Kfar Etzion, Massu'ot, Ein Tzurim and Revadim...
region.
Alon Shvut means "oak of return", and is a reference to the return of those Jews expelled from Gush Etzion by the
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
ian
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th Century.-Creation:...
in 1948 following the
Kfar Etzion massacreThe Kfar Etzion massacre was an act committed by Arab armed forces on May 13, 1948, the day before the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel.-Background:...
.
Alon Shvut is an
Israeli settlementIsraeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories . Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights...
and a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
Judean MountainsThe Judean Mountains, also referred to as the Judean Hills or Hebron Hills and Jibal al-Khalil, is the name for the mountain range in Israel and the West Bank where Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located.Running generally north-south, the mountains extend both to the...
of the southern
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
, administered by the
Gush Etzion Regional CouncilThe Gush Etzion Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Judean hills, or rather, the northern part of the southern area of the West Bank, administering the settlements in the Gush Etzion region, as well as others nearby...
. The
communal settlementA community settlement is a type of town in Israel. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the town's residents, who are organized in a cooperative, can veto a sale of a house or a business to an undesirable buyer.By this selection process, a community...
, located south‑west of
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
, between the Biblical cities of
BethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
and
HebronHebron is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to some 166,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Israelis living in and around the historic Jewish Quarter. Hebron lies 930 meters above sea level...
, serves as a regional center for the communities of the
Gush EtzionGush Etzion refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War: Kfar Etzion, Massu'ot, Ein Tzurim and Revadim...
region.
Naming
Alon Shvut means "oak of return", and is a reference to the return of those Jews expelled from Gush Etzion by the
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
ian
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th Century.-Creation:...
in 1948 following the
Kfar Etzion massacreThe Kfar Etzion massacre was an act committed by Arab armed forces on May 13, 1948, the day before the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel.-Background:...
. After the destruction of the Etzion Bloc of communities, the survivors and their children would gather yearly on the Israeli–Jordanian frontier to glimpse the sole remaining tree,
http://www.kfar-etzion.co.il/English_history_KE.htm an oak, which became known as the 'lone oak.' The town was constructed adjacent to the 'lone oak,' and the tree maintains a central place in the identity of both Alon Shvut and Gush Etzion at large as a symbol of renewal and continuity. The 'lone oak' is incorporated in the emblem of the
Gush Etzion Regional CouncilThe Gush Etzion Regional Council is a regional council in the northern Judean hills, or rather, the northern part of the southern area of the West Bank, administering the settlements in the Gush Etzion region, as well as others nearby...
.
History
Alon Shvut was founded in 1970 as a neighbourhood for housing families associated with the then-nascent
Yeshivat Har EtzionYeshivat Har Etzion , commonly known as "Gush," is an elite Hesder Yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, a settlement in Gush Etzion near Jerusalem, Israel....
hesderHesder is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework...
yeshivaYeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for study of its traditional, central texts...
. It was uniquely developed as a communal and service nucleus to what was then a mostly agricultural region, and for many years it housed the only clinic, grocery, post office, and bank in the area. Despite the more recent rise of
EfratEfrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank, located south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron. Efrat was established in 1980. It had 8,000 residents at the end of 2007 according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics...
as an urban centre, Alon Shvut still maintains a measure of its former role, and has shared in Gush Etzion's population increase. As of 2005, the
Israel Central Bureau of StatisticsThe Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure.It is headed by a...
reports that Alon Shvut is home to over 650 families.
Much of Alon Shvut's growth has been tied to the presence of Yeshivat Har Etzion. In addition to the families of faculty, many of its students have made their homes in the town, and the opening of the
Herzog College for TeachersHerzog College is a teacher's college located in Alon Shevut, Gush Etzion, in Israel. It is named for the diplomat Yaakov Herzog. It is located adjacent to, and associated with Yeshivat Har Etzion....
and the
Zomet InstituteThe Zomet Institute is an Israeli high-tech non-profit organization specializing in IT equipment and electronic appliances designed to meet Halakha.-The company:It was established in Alon Shvut by Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, who also founded and headed the Administration of...
for technologic-religious research, as well as a local educational complex, have drawn many more academics and their families. Some families of returnees from the pre-1948 community have sought Alon Shvut as an alternative to communal living on a local
kibbutzA kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
.
In 2000, a second neighbourhood doubled the size of the town to accommodate an increased demand for housing. Among the new residents were those who had been unable to acquire lots in the original neighborhood,
http://www.nbn.org.il/social/community/community_gush.htm#alonshvut as well as many young families that had moved to Israel from abroad ("made
aliyahAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
"), especially from the United States. A third neighbourhood is planned for the
Givat HaHish (גבעת החי"ש) area north‑east of the town, named after the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
's
HISHThe Hish was a corps formed by the Haganah in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1939 following the disbandment of the smaller mobilized force known as the Fosh. It was the Haganah's main surface corps, alongside Him and the Palmach.1939 was a turning point for the Jewish Defence forces...
unit's operations there. In the meantime, a provisional cluster of mobile homes exists on the site, populated mostly by recent Incan Jewish immigrants from
TrujilloTrujillo, in northwestern Peru, is the capital of the La Libertad Region, and the third largest city in Peru. The urban area has 811,979 inhabitants and is an economic hub in northern Peru...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,770235,00.html
Archaeological evidence of Jewish settlement from circa 300 BCE has been found in the Givat HaHish area, as well as later
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
‑era remains including a mosaic floor. Alon Shvut sits on the ancient road to Jerusalem, which is still marked by
RomanRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
milestoneA milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. They are typically located at the side of the road or in a median...
s. Many
ritual bathMikveh is a ritual bath designed for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
s which would have been used by pilgrims on the way to the
Temple in JerusalemThe Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, and a future Temple features in Jewish eschatology. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acts as...
scatter the surrounding hills, due to the location's proximity to Jerusalem — about a day's travel in those times. There are also dozens of ancient grape and olive presses, as well as cisterns hewn out of the bedrock, which testify to a long history of agriculture.
Alon Shvut is adjacent to the site of ancient
Beth-ZechariaThe Battle of Beth-Zechariah was fought between the Jewish Maccabeans and Greek forces during the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire.-Background:...
.
Geography
Located in the northern Judean Hills at about 950 m above sea level, Alon Shvut experiences a cool, dry climate in much of summer, and its winters are generally mild with rainfall and a few inches of snow common to most years. The old and new neighborhoods are contiguous and lie on a northwest–southeast axis along the ridge of a hill, with a gradual plain descending to its south, and dramatic gullies dropping to its north. The Givat HaHish neighborhood is on an extension of the ridge which abuts a gully to the northeast of the town. The town is located a few hundred meters west of the Gush Etzion Junction, which is the meeting of Route 60, the north–south artery which roughly follows the
watershedA drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins...
from
NazarethNazareth is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
through Jerusalem to
BeershebaBeersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 186,100....
, and Route 367, which descends west into the
Elah ValleyThe Valley of Elah, "the valley of the oak or terebinth" , best known as the place where the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath . It was near Azekah and Socho...
to the
coastal plainThe Israeli Coastal Plain is the narrow coastal plain along Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast which houses 70% of the country's population...
and
Tel Aviv areaGush Dan is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
.
Travel time to Jerusalem on the Route 60 is approximately 20 minutes, while
Tel AvivTel Aviv-Yafo , usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 391,300. The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of...
is around 70 minutes away.
External links