Nestled in the Judean Hills, some 15 minutes south of Jerusalem, is Gush Etzion, a bloc of Israeli settlements whose history goes back to 1920s. One of these settlements is Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, where a museum chronicles the area’s history and especially the bloody battles waged on Gush Etzion and its supply lines by the Arab legion in 1948. After that battle, during which almost all of the kibbutz’s male defenders were killed, the area remained empty of Jews until after the Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel recaptured the area.
Next to the museum is a memorial garden dedicated to the defenders of the kibbutz and an archive that compiles findings and documents having to do with Gush Etzion. Inside, visitors can watch a gripping sound-and-light show about the Jewish settlement project in the region from the 1920s up to the present day. Not far from there, one can find a small museum displaying many of the tools used by people in the region in ancient times, as well as a botanical and zoological garden.
