In a historic move, more than 850 dunams (210 acres) of land in the town of Kfar Etzion in Judea will be registered in the name of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).
The decision to register the land in the name of the JNF followed a push from Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and research into the land registry by archaeologist Tomar Karmi, and marked the first time that the land in question was officially registered as belonging to Jews.
The land was restored to its Jewish owners 90 years after the lands on which Gush Etzion (the Etzion Bloc) was built were first purchased, and 40 years after Kibbutz Kfar Etzion was founded on the ruins of the kibbutz that was destroyed by Arabs in 1948, who massacred the surrendering Jews who held white flags.
Kibbutz Kfar Etzion expressed satisfaction with the move. “We thank the justice minister, MK Ayelet Shaked, who after 20 years of legal procrastination fought the bureaucracy and managed to get things moving after long years in which the legal system imposed a construction freeze on Kfar Etzion.”
“We received the greatest gift we could ask for for the 50th anniversary [of the return of the Jewish people to Judea and Samaria],” the residents said.