Founding of West Bank Settlement 'Mevo Horon' Driven by Strategic Importance

Tuvia Rosenzweig, a founder of the West Bank settlement Mevo Horon and former deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council, has shared his account of the settlement's establishment and its strategic significance. His interview is part of a project by the Israeli Ministry of Heritage and the Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, aimed at documenting the stories of the pioneers who founded Israeli settlements.

The project, which includes hundreds of interviews, seeks to preserve the history of settlement across various regions of Israel, including the Jordan Valley, Judea, Samaria, Binyamin, the Golan Heights, and the Galilee. Rosenzweig explained that the idea for Mevo Horon originated shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, stemming from concerns about the Latrun salient and its proximity to the vital Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, a strategically critical area in central Israel.

Rosenzweig recalled that a classified battle plan discovered after the Six-Day War revealed a Jordanian plot to conquer the settlement of Sha'alvim and massacre its inhabitants, highlighting the area's immense strategic value. To secure the territory, the defense establishment sought to establish a presence through agricultural settlement.

Consequently, the Ezra movement, to which Rosenzweig belonged, was tasked with founding Mevo Horon. Individuals from the nearby Modi'in area also joined, with the objective of establishing a religious agricultural settlement in this new location. The interview is part of a larger initiative to document the establishment of settlements and preserve the narratives of their founders for future generations.