Many residents have recently moved to live in the new community of Heletz, located on the hilly ridge between Sde Boaz and Mount Gilo, south of Jerusalem, and connecting Gush Etzion to the capital.
The land on which the settlement was established was purchased by Himnuta, a subsidiary of JNF-KKL, in 1969. In 2019, the Tal family settled the land, with the permission of the owners and with the assistance of the Amana Movement, and established the Neve Ori Farm, in memory of Ori Ansbacher.
Just before leaving his position, the head of the Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fuchs, signed the confirmation, adding Heletz to the jurisdiction area of Gush Etzion. After this, the Civil Administration published the official boundaries of the village.
Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said: "Today we are privileged to connect Gush Etzion to Jerusalem. This week, seventy-seven years ago, the fighters of the 35th convoy set out to save the isolated Gush Etzion and were killed in a fierce battle in the Hebron Hills. Today we have come full circle and repaid a moral debt to the founders and defenders of Gush Etzion, and to the fallen soldiers of the 35th convoy."
Rosenthal added: "We express our thanks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Shlomo Ne'eman, and the Amana Movement, who have all worked, and continue to work, to develop the farm and the community. But most of all, we must thank Lior and Racheli Tal, who are renewing Jewish presence in the area. Thanks to their determination, have ensured the establishment of this new community. Thank you to all those who worked quietly behind the scenes to help build Heletz!"
He added: "I am writing this with tears of excitement in my eyes, that I had the privilege of taking part in the process. I sincerely believe that today the defenders of Gush Etzion are looking at us from above and saying to themselves: ‘See, Gush Etzion has been connected to Jerusalem, and Jewish continuity between Gush Etzion and the capital of Israel has been completed!'"
In the past year, the Cabinet reached a decision to set up Heletz as part of a series of steps led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich to strengthen Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, against the Palestinian Authority, in light of measures it promoted against Israel in The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
The Cabinet approved a series of steps, including the final approval of five new communities: Evyatar in Samaria, Sde Ephraim and Givat Assaf in Binyamin, Heletz in Gush Etzion, and Adoraim in the Hebron Hills.
