Neve Daniel

Sde Boaz (Hebrew: שדה בועז, lit. 'Boaz's Field') is an Israeli outpost in the West Bank, built in 2002 almost entirely on private Palestinian land. Located on a hill above Neve Daniel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gush Etzion Regional Council. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. Outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.

Elazar (Hebrew: אֶלְעָזָר) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, 18 kilometers south of Jerusalem in the Gush Etzion cluster of settlements. A community settlement, it had a population of 2,561 in 2021. It is administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, although the Israeli government disputes this.

On 21 March 2024, David Ben Avraham (Hebrew: דוד בן אברהם), a 63-year-old Palestinian Jewish convert, was shot and killed by an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldier near Elazar, an Israeli settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The soldier had approached Ben Avraham and asked whether he was Jewish, to which he responded affirmatively. In the ensuing encounter, the soldier pointed his rifle at Ben Avraham and threatened to kill him if he reached for his bag; Ben Avraham complied but was nevertheless shot dead. The IDF opened an investigation into what it termed a "grave" incident; the soldier, a reservist, was released a week later by an Israeli court. The Jerusalem Post stated that the killing joined a series of "wrongful mistaken killings" of Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel "in which, to date, the prosecution and courts have been extremely lenient on the killers." Originally Sameh Zaytoun (Arabic: سامح زيتون), Ben Avraham was a resident of Hebron and had changed his name upon converting from Islam to Judaism. Following his conversion, he was jailed by the Palestinian Authority for 58 days in 2019. The Israeli government repeatedly denied his applications for Israeli citizenship, which The Times of Israel stated was "ostensibly due to his Palestinian heritage." On 29 March, Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel posthumously approved Ben Avraham's residency status.

Rosh Tzurim (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ צוּרִים, eng. Top of the Rocks) is an Israeli settlement and religious kibbutz in the West Bank established in 1969. It is located about 20 kilometers (12 mi) south of Jerusalem, 3.9 km east of the Green Line, inside barrier wall. A member of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 948. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Efrat (Hebrew: אֶפְרָת), or previously officially Efrata (Hebrew: אֶפְרָתָה), is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, established in 1983 in the Judean Mountains. Efrat is located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron, 6.5 km (4 mi) east of the Green Line, at the Palestinian side of the West Bank wall. The settlement stands at an altitude of up to 960 metres (3,150 feet) above sea level and covers about 6,000 dunam (1,500 acres). The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.Considered the capital of Gush Etzion, it had a population of 11,804 in 2021. Although geographically located within Gush Etzion, it is independent from the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and Palestinians in negotiations do not consider it as part of that block, since it lies to the east of Route 60 — their side of the Geneva Initiative map. Since November 2008, Oded Revivi, an attorney and lieutenant colonel in the army and member of the Likud Central Committee, is the head of Efrat regional council.

The Battle of Beth Zechariah was a battle around May 162 BC during the Maccabean revolt fought between Jewish rebels under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee) against an army of the Seleucid Empire, the Greek successor state (diadochi) to the Macedonian conquests that controlled Syria and Babylonia. The battle was fought at Beth Zechariah (modern Khirbet Beit Zakariyyah) and was a Seleucid victory, with the rebels driven from the field in retreat. Judas's brother Eleazar Avaran died in combat with a war elephant. The defeat allowed the Seleucids to continue their campaign and besiege the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem.

Khirbet Beit Zakariyyah (variants: Beit Iskâria, Khirbet Zakariah, Beit Skâria) is a small Palestinian village southwest of Bethlehem in the West Bank, perched on a hill that rises about 995 metres (3,264 ft) above sea level. Administratively, it is associated with the village of Artas under the Bethlehem Governorate. It is also located in between the Israeli settlements of Alon Shevut and Rosh Tzurim, both of which were built on land confiscated from the village.

The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills (Hebrew: הרי יהודה, romanized: Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains (Arabic: تلال الخليل, romanized: Tilal al-Khalīl, lit. 'Al-Khalil Mountains'), is a mountain range in Israel and the West Bank where Jerusalem, Hebron and several other biblical cities are located. The mountains reach a height of 1,026 metres (3,366 ft). The Judean Mountains can be divided into a number of sub-regions, including the Mount Hebron ridge, the Jerusalem ridge and the Judean slopes. The Judaean Mountains formed the heartland of the Kingdom of Judah (930-586 BCE), where the earliest Jewish settlements emerged, and from which Jews are generally descended.

The Battle of 3 Shevat was a battle in the 1947–1949 Palestine war, fought on January 14, 1948 (Hebrew date: 3 Shevat). The battle began with a large attack on Gush Etzion by Arab groups in the area, reinforced by Arabs and Bedouins who came from as far as Jerusalem and Beer Sheva, under the command of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. They attempted to capture the center of Gush Etzion, and to divide the four settlements of Gush Etzion into two separate enclaves. Their attack was repulsed, at the cost of heavy losses to the attackers.

Solomon's Pools (Arabic: برك سليمان, romanized: Burak Sulaymān, or in short el-Burak, 'the pools'; Hebrew: בריכות שלמה, romanized: Breichot Shlomo) are three ancient reservoirs located in the south-central West Bank, immediately to the south of al-Khader, about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of Bethlehem, near the road to Hebron. The pools are located in Area A of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.Solomon's Pools provided the water for two aqueducts that delivered water to Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period. The first one, known as the "Low-level Aqueduct," is thought to have been built in the first century BCE, around the end of the Hasmonean period. It delivered water to cisterns located underground beneath the Temple Mount, which were primarily used by the Temple. A second aqueduct, the "High-Level Aqueduct," took a similar path, but it is uncertain where it ended up in Jerusalem. It might have provided water to Herod's Palace. The Herodium also received water from the Solomon's Pools.

Alon Shvut (Hebrew: אַלּוֹן שְׁבוּת) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, established in June 1970 over lands confiscated from the nearby Palestinian town of Khirbet Beit Zakariyyah. It is part of the Etzion bloc of the West Bank, administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and neighbors the Jewish settlements of Kfar Etzion, Rosh Tzurim, Neve Daniel, Elazar, Bat Ayin, Migdal Oz, and Efrat. In 2021, its population was 3,061. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Al-Khader (Arabic: الخضر) is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the south-central West Bank. It is located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Bethlehem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 11,856 in 2017. The area around al-Khader is marked by vineyards, and olive and fig trees.Solomon's Pools, Murad Fortress (a Turkish Ottoman castle built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1617 to defend Solomon’s Pools, that today houses a Museum for Palestinian Culture and Heritage), the Monastery and Church of St. George, and Al-Hamadiyya Mosque are al-Khader's main landmarks.