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Giv'at Ze'ev

Giv'at Ze'ev
  • גִבְעַת זְאֵב
  • چفعت زئيف
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • ISO 259 Gibˁat Zˀeb
 • Also spelled Givat Zeev (unofficial)
View from the wadi
View from the wadi
Official logo of Giv'at Ze'ev
Logo
Giv'at Ze'ev is located in the West Bank
Giv'at Ze'ev
Giv'at Ze'ev
Coordinates: 31°51′51″N 35°10′11″E / 31.86417°N 35.16972°E / 31.86417; 35.16972Coordinates: 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
 • Type Local council
 • Head of Municipality Yossi Avrahami
Area
 • Total 4,841 dunams (4.841 km2 or 1.869 sq mi)
Population (2015)
 • Total 16,123
Name meaning Zeev's Hill (also: Wolf Hill)
Website www.givat-zeev.muni.il (Hebrew)

Giv'at Ze'ev (Hebrew: גִּבְעַת זְאֵב‎) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, five kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. The town 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 2015 it had a population of 16,123.

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

Giv'at Ze'ev, named after Ze'ev Jabotinsky, was founded in 1977 on confiscated Palestinian land and was declared a local council in 1983. 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 in order to enable the programmed development of this settlement bloc. One local Palestinian landowner protesting the land confiscations occupied his plot nearby and refused to be intimidated by settlers shooting in the air. He was eventually scooped up by the blade of a bulldozer and removed.

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, Biddo, 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.


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