First trailers installed at new settlement industrial zone near Hebron
Site to open on hilltop next to West Bank town of Kiryat Arba, 35 years after state seized land for public use
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The first four trailers of a new industrial zone were installed on a hilltop adjacent to the Kiryat Arba settlement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry body responsible for authorizing West Bank construction said.
“Four structures were placed on Kiryat Arba’s Hill 22 in accordance with all legal procedures, within a valid building plan and within the confines of state land,” a statement from the Civil Administration explained.
“After years of hard work, we are now able to establish a new stake in the Land of Israel!” a post on the southern West Bank settlement’s official Facebook page read.
The Mevaser industrial zone was established in memory of fallen soldiers and Benaya Sarel and Eliav Gelman, brothers-in-law who both grew up in Kiryat Arba.
Sarel was killed in Rafah during the 2014 Gaza War and Gelman was killed in February 2016 by errant IDF gunfire during a Palestinian stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction while he was on his way home from his army base.
The land the zone is situated on, almost a kilometer north of the settlement’s fence, was seized by the state in 1982 and was designated as the building grounds for a Kiryat Arba industrial zone six years later.
The official Wafa news agency reported that the land had belonged to three Palestinian families in Hebron.
“With this significant stronghold, we are expanding the boundaries of the city and continuing the breakthrough that began with the first settlement of the community some fifty years ago!” the settlement continued in its Tuesday Facebook post.
The Peace Now settlement watchdog characterized the move as “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s gift to US President Donald Trump on the day of their meeting.”
Netanyahu met with Trump on the sidelines of the American Israel Public Affairs policy conference on Monday.
“The new settlement near Hebron is liable to cause significant harm to the lives of dozens of Palestinian families who live nearby who are expected to suffer new security arrangements that will restrict their freedom of movement and harm the daily fabric of their lives,” the left-wing NGO’s statement concluded.
The Times of Israel Community.