Giv'at Ze'ev

The settlement was founded in 1977 on the site of the abandoned Jordanian military camp, adjacent to the site of ancient Gibeon. While it lies within the borders of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, it is a separate municipal entity. In 2022 it had a population of 21,097.

Giv'at Ze'ev גִבְעַת זְאֵב‎ چفعت زئيف
Local council
Hebrew transcription(s)
• ISO 259	Gibˁat Zˀeb
• Also spelled	Givat Zeev (unofficial)
View from the wadi
Giv'at Ze'ev
Coordinates: 31°51′51″N 35°10′11″E / 31.86417°N 35.16972°E / 31.86417; 35.16972
Region	West Bank
District	Judea and Samaria Area
Founded	1977
Government
• Head of Municipality	Yossi Avrahami
Area
• Total	4,841 dunams (4.841 km2 or 1.869 sq mi)
Population  (2022)
• Total	21,097
• Density	4,400/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
Name meaning	Zeev's Hill (also: Wolf Hill)
Website	www.givat-zeev.muni.il (in Hebrew)

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

According to the Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, Israel has confiscated land from three nearby Palestinian villages to construct Giv'at Ze'ev:

• 2,246 dunams from Al Jib,
• 30 dunams from Beit Duqqu,
• 9 dunums from Beit Ijza,
• 1,036 dunams from Beitunia, for Giv'at Ze'ev and Beit Horon.

It was named after Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and declared a local council in 1983.^{[citation needed]} Palestinians contend that under the expropriation maps contained in military orders, the road connecting it to Jerusalem, though ostensibly designed to "facilitate Palestinian movement", actually would confiscate 15 square kilometers of prime agricultural land, on which the livelihoods of 24,000 Palestinians depend to enable the programmed development of this settlement bloc.

In 1996 a program of expansion with new housing units and an envisaged 20,000 new settlers was approved, to be constructed on land confiscated from the Palestinian villages of Beitunia, Biddu, and Jib, in what Palestinians call Wadi Salman, but which the Israelis have renamed Ha'ayalot valley. Twice in successive years further areas amounting to 250 acres were confiscated from Beitunia and Jib to build an additional 11,550 units. On March 9, 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved the construction of 750 new homes in Giv'at Ze'ev under the Agan Ha'ayalot project. This approval stands in contrast to Olmert's policy of freezing new permits for expansion within existing settlements. Olmert argued that the project was first approved in 1999, but stopped in 2000, as a result of the Second Intifada. The approval was criticized by the Palestinian Authority, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the European Union. On the political right, the Shas party took credit for pressuring Olmert to approve the project.

Both the Ayelet HaShahar synagogue and yeshiva built on private Palestinian land owned by the Allatif family of the nearby Palestinian township of Jib, are slated to be demolished by March 2014, after the prosecutor's office determined that the putative documents of land purchase were forgeries.

Giv'at Ze'ev has four elementary schools and one junior high school. There are two youth movement branches: the Israeli Scouts (Arava tribe) and Bnei Akiva.

It is located just off Highway 443, affording easy access to both Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area. It is connected to Jerusalem by Egged Ta'avura bus routes 131, 132, 133, 134 and to Tel Aviv by Egged bus number 471. The loop circling Giv'at Ze'ev effectively annexes over 18 square miles of Palestinian land. The town is patrolled by Mishmeret Ha'gvul and a local security force, and is secured by a security fence.^{[citation needed]} Plans are underway to set a guard post near the entrance to route 443 (currently, the road is closed off by a security fence).^{[citation needed]}

The religious population in mixed and includes Chardal, Dati Leumi, Charedi and Secular. There are about 20 orthodox synagogues in the town, with more expected to be built as the community expands.

Giv'at Ze'ev is the center of the Karlin-Stolin Chasidim and one of the town's most notable residents is the Stoliner Rebbe Boruch Yaakov Meir Shochet. There is also a Chabad Lubavitch community there as well.

Ramat Givat Zeev is a new section that was being developed in 2013. The 400 housing units include both single-family houses and multi-family apartment buildings. The development is being marketed towards English-speaking religious Jews making Aliyah to Israel.

 

 

Near Giv'at Ze'ev and in the settlement itself there are several archeological sites:

Hurvat Latatine is an archeological site located in the entrance to Giv'at Ze'ev. Its ruin have been identified since the beginning of the 20th century with the road station mentioned on the Madaba Map as TO ENNATON (literally: "the ninth"). This is due to a certain preservation of the name of the site in the name of the ruin, due to the findings of the road station at the site, and due to the location of the site around the ninth mile on the ancient Roman road between Jerusalem and Lod which goes via Beit Huron. Archaeological surveys carried out on the site during the years of the British mandate found ruins from the Second Temple period. Excavations that were conducted in June 1995, found remains of a church and a road station from the beginning of the 5th century AD, a mosaic floor and an oil press.

Hurvat Jaafar, is a site located in Giv'at Ze'ev and that dates back to the Second Temple period and ended in the early Muslim period. Excavated for the first time in the early nineties, the findings included an elaborate oil press as well as many house walls that have been preserved, each house had its own cistern. In the excavations carried out in 2014, another oil press was found on the site, a Byzantine bath house and a pottery maker's house from the Umayyad period.