A fire broke out in the Geva’ot Forest in Gush Etzion early Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters were at the site battling that blaze as well.
The forest is located in Judea, in the westernmost area of Gush Etzion. The area is named for the hills (“giva’ot” in Hebrew) from which the Biblical Bila’am spoke (Numbers 23:9), and is just a few minutes’ drive from Jerusalem.
Some 988 acres of the land surrounding Geva’ot was declared part of Israeli state land two years ago, to the consternation of world leaders and the Palestinian Authority. But the move comes in accordance with general Israeli policy to consolidate the Israeli settlement blocs in Area C that would have remained under the control of the State of Israel regardless of which final status agreement was reached with the Palestinian Authority.
At present, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, now in his eighties, continues his years-long policy of refusing to meet for direct talks to resolve the final status issue between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, as was called for under the internationally-recognized Oslo Accords.