Dedicating Givat Oz
Dedicating Givat OzCourtesy of Women in Green

As questions linger after the horrific murders of abducted yeshiva students Naftali Frenkel (16), Gilad Sha'ar (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19) linger, one group of pioneers came up with its own Zionist answer Monday: building more Jewish homes. 

Activists from Women in Green joined a group of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria to form the new community of Givat Oz on Monday night, in a show of Jewish and Zionist strength and renewal. 

Givat Oz overlooks the Gush Etzion intersection where the boys were kidnapped on June 12, and is adjacent to the historical community of Migdal Eder, which was dismantled in 1927.

On Monday, the pioneers reclaimed this area, cleaning out an abandoned structure on the site and naming it "Givat Oz" and calling upon the government to immediately apply sovereignty over the region, starting with Hevron and Gush Etzion.

This call was made by the Women in Green, together with the Professors for a Strong Israel, headed by Aryeh Eldad and Matot Arim.

Davidi Perl, mayor of Gush Etzion, together with his deputy, Moshe Savil, came to bless the new Givat Oz endeavor.

“Our answer is clear and determined: we will continue to expand and build here and now," Perl stated. "Here we will build a new community and many more in the near future. We will build and settle and hold strong to the land.” 

The local police chief and army commanders came to visit and promised to safeguard the place.

Women in Green issued a call to members of the public to come and help refurbish the building (painting and cleaning). Attendees are directed to drive to Tzomet HaGush and turn toward Migdal Oz and Bet Fajjar; after a few hundred meters, turn right onto the dirt path and continue up into the forest.