Until the Six Day War, the settlement movement neglected the mountain ridge. Historian and author Hagai Huberman tells of the revolution that began during the war and continues until today.
Journalist, author and historian of the settlement enterprise, Hagai Huberman gave a fascinating lecture during the Sovereignty Youth seminar that was held at the Oz veGaon preserve in Gush Etzion.
In his lecture to the dozens of youths, Huberman explained the history of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria from its inception, beginning his remarks with the ancient words of Rabbi Yudan on the three places that the nations of the world cannot claim were stolen by the People of Israel and these three places are the focus of the Arab battle against the Jewish state – Hevron, Nablus (Schem) and Jerusalem. Huberman emphasized that “The ones who need to know that these three places are not stolen by us are first and foremost ourselves”.
“Zionism almost never ascended to the mountain”, said Huberman, explaining the settlement in the first days of Zionism. There was significant settlement in the valleys – Emek Yizrael and Emek Beit She’an, parts of the Galilee and the shoreline, but there was no ascent to the mountain. Just before World War Two, the fifth aliyah filled out the settlement in the costal plain and the valleys and to some extent the area of Jerusalem, but the route of the mountain ridge remained empty”.
Huberman tells of the first immigrants to settle on the mountain. This was the group called Zikaron David, which ascended in 1927 to Migdal Eder, which is located near Gush Etzion Junction. The settlement was cut off after two years, with the Arab massacre in Hevron who slaughtered dozens of Hevron Jews , and Arabs of the Beit Omar village protected them.
The settlement enterprise resumed with the establishment of Kfar Etzion by a Jew of the name Holzman, who hoped to establish three towns. “The newspaper Ha’aretz quotes the Arab news, which speaks of the Jewish preparations to settle the Land of Israel, starting with land along the coast and later, they intend to ascend to the fertile mountain land”.
Huberman continues by describing their ascension to the lands of the kibbutzim in Har Hevron and Gush Etzion’s heroic stand in the battle against the Jordanian Legion in the War of Independence, a position that won much respect from David Ben Gurion.
The great change came around the time of Yom Ha’atzma’ut, 1967, when Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook gave his famous speech at Merkaz Harav, crying “where is our Nablus, where is our Hevron and where is our Jericho”. “Twenty-four hours afterward, Shuli Natan performs at the Song Festival and sang the song written by Naomi Shemer "Jerusalem of Gold", which was not part of the festival but was requested by Teddy Kollek. For 19 years there were almost no songs written about Jerusalem. I see this song as a song of mourning that the Old City was not in our hands. The word ‘Eicha’ used in the song is not by chance. It seeks to raise the alarm that for 19 years, we were not in Jerusalem.
Between the cry of Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook and the cry of Naomi Shemer that afternoon, there was a parade of limited scope by the IDF in Jerusalem, during which the Chief of Staff received a note saying that the Egyptian army had invaded Sinai. Three weeks later we returned to Hevron, Nablus and Jericho and the water cisterns, the market and the town square”. The words of Rabbi Kook and of Naomi Shemer turned out to be prophetic.
Huberman goes on to describe the process led by Hanan Porat, obm, from Kfar Etzion, who participated in the battle and “during the war, he said that we are going to renew the settlement in Judea and Samaria”.
After the war, says Huberman, the people of Kfar Etzion gathered to plan their return to the lands of the village. “At the time, the Israeli government was a dovish government led by Levi Eshkol. They viewed Judea and Samaria as a bargaining chip toward a peace agreement. They go to Moshe Dayan, who tells them that there is no intention to make any changes. The religious Mafdal people were very satisfied with this at the time. The representatives of Mafdal in the Knesset were leftists in every way and they said that the process will not go forward because we must listen to the non-Jews, etc.”.
The change comes with the help of Yehuda Hazoni who brings people of the village for a meeting with Levi Eshkol, who wants to see Gush Etzion on the map. He places his hand on it and says that he accepts a Rosh Hashana prayer at the place. Hanan Porat wants to establish the town anew and Eshkol answers that he doesn’t want to hear high words, but he does approve of prayer at the place. The prayer takes place and in the renewed ascension to the place the passages ending with the words “And the sons will return to their borders”, are read.
The decision of the government is to not establish new towns, but only to allow military settlement there and Kfar Etzion wins a sign at the entrance, welcoming those who come to strengthen the new military settlement , and when someone comes to complain to Eshkol and wonders that Kfar Etzion is staffed with bearded people and not soldiers, he answers that the soldiers at the military settlement are getting old…
Rav Waldman, Rav Levinger and their friends, who did not join Kfar Etzion, decide to celebrate the Pessach Seder evening in a hotel in Hevron. (1968). They are prepared to pay for the hotel during the holiday and the owner of the hotel is happy to receive patrons after a long time without the high-value Arab patrons that he used to have before the war. The settlers sign an agreement to rent rooms in the hotel for an unlimited time and after the evening of the Seder, it turns out that they remain there. “The day after the seder they send Defense Minister Dayan a telegram of holiday greetings from the settlers of Hevron. Dayan sends a telegram back, “To the settlers of Hevron, Happy holiday, Moshe Dayan”, says Huberman about the first use of the term ‘mitnachalim’ (translated into English with the word settlers-but the real meaning of "mitnachalim" is "inheritors of the land")
Minister Yigal Alon, of the Labor party, states that “it is inconceivable that Jews would be forbidden to settle in Hevron”. The Kibbutz Meuhad Center gathers, and sends its blessing “to the first returnees to Hevron and encourages them to base themselves in the City of the Fathers”.
In the spirit of these words of encouragement, two more towns are established in Gush Etzion and Alon Shvut is established along with them, as the center of the settlement, the first community to include a non-agricultural town, based on an acceptance committee. It was at this time that the Jewish settlement in the Jordan Valley began.
In 1973, Benny Katsover and Menahem Felix analyze the situation of the settlement enterprise and see the empty space between Jerusalem and Afula. They decide to establish the nucleus of Alon Moreh, to establish a community above Nablus. They set up a meeting with the General (res.) Arik Sharon. He is very enthusiastic about promoting the settlement. The meeting is postponed because the Yom Kippur War has begun and afterward, they renew the process and establish the town”.
Huberman told the story of how Gush Emunim was established, the establishment of Sebastiya, in the place proposed by Ariel Sharon, emphasizing to the leaders of Gush Emunim how this place was, in the past, the Biblical capital of Samaria. Motta Gur comes to an agreement with the settlers that there will be a non-violent evacuation and they will be transferred to another point.
The ascension to establish Neve Tsuf is slightly disturbed when a column of vehicles that was supposed to come to the old police building is stopped by the army and scatters in different directions, actually getting dispersed in the field. The column is divided and arrives in an uncoordinated way to 16 different points in the area and in Gush Emunim they choose to issue a declaration to the media that the Gush established 16 new points that night… These points were evacuated.
Huberman continued by telling the story of how the town of Ofrah, that began with a joint tour with Hanan Porat and Rahel Yanait ben Zvi. The two came to the Mount Ba’al Hazor camp, where builders were needed for the stockade that was being established for the Air Force. “Rahel asked why a work force was not set up and Hanan suggested that the Alon Moreh nucleus establish such a work force.
The day after Yom Yerushalayim, while Hanan Porat is with Defense Minister Peres, the people of the nucleus settle in Ayn Yavrod, an abandoned British military camp. Peres asks Hanan what the issue is and Hanan answers that it is only a work camp. Peres instructs the army to guard them, but without helping them. It turns out that they managed very well indeed by themselves”.
The establishment of Ofrah created an argument among the people of the Alon Moreh nucleus, whether to make do with this, or stick to the aspirations to establish Alon Moreh next to Nablus. The group breaks up. Most stay with the battle for Alon Moreh, while Yehuda Etzion, Uri Elitzur, Pinhas Wallerstein and others remained to establish Ofrah.
“In December of ’75, thousands of people gather in Sebastiya. Rabin instructs Motta Gur to evacuate them. Motta Gur says that it is not possible. Rabin gets angry and Motta Gur suggests to Rabin and Peres to go there and see the masses of people. The three of them go by helicopter, see the masses and understand the situation. Rabin tells Peres to go to them. Peres comes to an agreement to transfer to an alternative place where 35 families will go up”, says Huberman, presenting filmed documentation of the historical events that led to the seeding of the main mountain route with many communities.