Gush Etzion

Gush Etzion in the 2018 OCHA OpT map, showing both the modern definition and the area of the original 1943-48 settlements Beitar Illit, the largest city in Gush Etzion, was founded in 1985 Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, lit. Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural villages that were founded in 1943–1947, and destroyed by the Arab Legion on May 13, 1948 in the 1948 Palestine war, in the Kfar Etzion massacre. The area was left outside of Israel with the 1949 armistice lines. These settlements were rebuilt after the 1967 Six-Day War, along with new communities that have expanded the area of the Etzion Bloc. As of 2011, Gush Etzion consisted of 22 settlements with a population of 70,000.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but Israel disagrees.