In 1946 the Yishuv – Mandatory Palestine’s Jewish community – built this road, designed by engineer David Laszlo Szekely (1909-1996). Szekely built a secret landing strip into the road, which was of use later in the War of Independence. Kfar Etzion is one of 4 small communities built a short distance from Jerusalem. Purchased by a Jewish Zionist in the early 1920s, the land upon which these communities were built became home to these Jewish pioneer families. The families evacuated in 1947, leaving the men behind to fight. Since the communities were on the way to Jerusalem, they would attempt to limit Arab irregulars’ and Jordanian troops from heading in that direction. Many attacks were launched by the Arabs against these communities, particularly Kfar Etzion, and almost all were repelled. Finally, one massive attack broke through and conquered the sites. Most of the men were massacred, although some lived and were taken as POWs to Jordan.
When Israel conquered the West Bank/Judea and Samaria in 1967, these communities were among the first to be repopulated and rebuilt by Jews, including some of the descendants of the 1948 men who were killed. These towns are considered “settlements” by the Palestinians and the international community. They were going to be kept as Israeli territory in Barak’s Camp David and Taba offers.
Happy 60th to Israel!
And Shabbat Shalom!
I find it symptomatic that the Naqba Industry crowd keeps harping on the Deir Yassin massacre (with or without quotation marks, take your pick). But they simply gloss over anything their own side perpetrated against the Jews in 1948. I wrote to Daniel McGowan of “Deir Yassin Remembered” and he merely said that “Deir Yassin came before these other events.” But the idea is to demonize Israel as an illegitimate state born in sin. McGowan has made a great show of his visit in prison to Ernst Zundel, the Holocaust denier. Yet, none of his sycophants bother to call him on that.
I would urge all readers, if they haven’t already, to become acquainted with Efraim Karsh’s excellent article on the birth of Israel and the events that took place at that time:
It’s untrue that Arab massacres only took place after Deir Yassin. That’s a profoundly misleading assertion. There was plenty of active violence against Jews prior to Deir Yassin, including some pretty murderous stuff. Here is just one example.
http://www.amilimani.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=2
Thank you for the link, Amil.
Why do I have to learn from OTHER sites that Sarah Silverman is fucking Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel is fucking Ben Affleck? Where’s Beth? She soooo dropped the ball on this one.
Ahemmm, Chutzpah: https://jewlicious.com/?p=4168
Thanks Froylein miss one day of this blog and you get 4 months behind on the news! Apologies to Beth!
Israel may be 60, but much more importantly, the Yeshiva Katana of Plifton is turning 25!