Kfar Etzion

In January 1927, the Zikhron David society, a group of 160 Orthodox Jews from the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, established a small farming community, "Migdal Eder," on land south of Jerusalem.[5] The name was taken from a verse in the Bible, Genesis 35:21, which referenced a tower by the same name. During the 1929 Palestine riots, Migdal Eder was attacked and destroyed. Residents of the neighboring Palestinian village of Beit Ummar sheltered the farmers, but they could not return to their land.[6]

In the early 1930s, the land was purchased by Haredi businessman Shmuel Zvi Holtzman from Rehovot,[7] who renamed the settlement "Kfar Etzion," a play on his own name: Yiddish “holts” and German "Holz" means “wood”, which translates to “etz” in Hebrew). The Jews were forced to leave again in the wake of the 1936–39 Arab revolt. Much of what Holtzman and his comrades had built was demolished by the Arabs.[6]

In 1943–47, the kibbutz movement sent out groups of settlers to establish four kibbutzim, creating what became known as the Etzion bloc. Kfar Etzion, Ein Tzurim, Massu'ot Yitzhak and Revadim were destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the entire area came under Jordanian rule.[6]

The kibbutzim held off the attacks for ten days until Kfar Etzion fell. In the Kfar Etzion massacre on 14 May, 157 Jewish inhabitants of the village were murdered, as all but four of the inhabitants were executed by Arab Legion and irregular forces. The other three kibbutzim surrendered. The inhabitants there were taken as prisoners of war and released nine months later.[8]

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  Kfar Etzion water tank, 1943
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  Kfar Etzion (Kefir 'Etsyon) 1945, 1:250,000
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  Kfar Etzion, 1947
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  Kfar Etzion 1948

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.[9] 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.[10][11]

Another figure involved in Kfar Etzion's resettlement is Elyashiv Knohl, a rabbi of the community whose father fought in Israel's War of Independence 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.[2] Today Kfar Etzion houses a museum and archive documenting the history of Gush Etzion.

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