Construction of new settlement 'Nahal Heletz' near Bethlehem approved by government and IDF

On Aug. 14, the Israeli government announced its preliminary approval of the municipal boundaries for a new settlement near Bethlehem in Judea, to be named "Nahal Heletz."

The IDF's Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced the completion of its preparatory work last month, publishing a blue line for the settlement located near Jerusalem, in what is internationally called the West Bank.

The publication of the blue line – a land survey process in which the government, through COGAT, determines which lands are private and which are not – will allow work to begin on the settlement. It is one of five new developments approved by the coalition cabinet in response to recent attempts by the Palestinian Authority to attain unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli anti-settlement group "Peace Now" stated that the area designated for Nahal Heletz includes territory that UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site. This refers to the site of Battir, about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from Bethlehem, famous for its Roman-era terraces that are used in farming even today.

Peace Now called the approval a “wholesale attack” on an area “renowned for its ancient terraces and sophisticated irrigation systems, evidence of thousands of years of human activity.”

The Arabic name of the site, Battir, preserves the ancient name of the town, Beitar, which was destroyed by the Romans during the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the second century A.D. The archeological site is called Tel Beitar.

The Jerusalem Soccer Club, Beitar Yerushalayim, is named after the last stand of the Bar Kokhba rebels in the town.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a resident of a Judean settlement and an advocate for expanding settlement activity, shared the approval announcement on 𝕏.

חיבור גוש עציון לירושלים - משימה לאומית!

יישוב חדש בגוש עציון; פורסם קו כחול של 602 דונם להקמה של היישוב נחל חלץ.

היום סיים המנהל האזרחי את עבודתו המקצועית ופרסם קו כחול חדש ליישוב נחל חלץ בגוש עציון.

פרסום הקו הכחול מאפשר להניע את הליכי הקמת היישוב נחל חלץ, אחד מהיישובים… pic.twitter.com/qK4sLwx1ik
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) August 14, 2024

“A new settlement in Gush Etzion; a blue line of 602 dunams was published for the establishment of the settlement Nahal Chaletz,” Smotrich wrote.

He also directly attributed the settlement’s foundation to the Palestinian Authority's attempts to gain unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

“The publication of the blue line makes it possible to initiate the procedures for establishing the settlement of Nahal Heletz, one of the settlements that the cabinet decided upon as part of the establishment of five new settlements in response to the PA's measures against the State of Israel and the unilateral recognition of several states in a Palestinian state,” the finance minister continued

“No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the further development of the settlement,” Smotrich wrote. “We will continue to fight the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state and establish facts on the ground. This is my life's mission and I will continue it as much as I can.”

Gush Etzion is the name given to a cluster of settlements in the Judean Hills, south of Jerusalem. The core group of settlements was started in the early 1940s, before the State of Israel was established in 1948. Several of the villages were destroyed in the Kfar Etzion Massacre by the Arab Legion just before the start of the 1948 War for Independence.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Gush Etzion was one of the first areas of to show significant settler activity, as Jews sought to re-establish a presence there.

In recent days, there have been several terror attacks cin this region.

The territory demarcated for Nahal Heletz already includes a farm called Neve Ori, named after Ori Ansbacher, a 19-year-old Israeli woman from Tekoa who was raped and murdered by a Palestinian man, in 2019. After his arrest, the terrorist confessed to the rape and murder of Ansbacher without remorse.

Following the announcement regarding the blue line, Gush Etzion Council head Yaron Rosenthal stated: “We are excited by the news that a new, established, and large settlement will be built in the Land of Israel."

"Thanks to Minister Smotrich, the professionals in his office, and the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The new settlement will create the link between the Gush and Jerusalem, between Etzion and Zion.”