News & Commentary, Elisha Yered, Resettlement Activist
*Let it be clear to you: all the campaigns about a “siege” and the vile blood libels we’ve been seeing in recent weeks have one purpose: to bring about an Arab takeover of Jabal Ein Einah — the second-highest mountain in Samaria and the tenth-highest in all of Judea and Samaria.*
*These are not random incidents, but part of an organized plan by PA minister Walid Assaf to seize the high control strongholds in Judea and Samaria.*
*To understand what is really happening here, I wrote at length this week about this dangerous plan that everyone must know.*
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https://www.okn.co.il/opinions/58628/
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Full English translation of Elisha's article below with the help of Google.
It includes a very educational review of the ten strategic highest mountains and ridges in Judea and Samaria.
He Who Controls the Mountain Will Control the Land: The PA's Dangerous Plan to Conquer the Strongholds in Judea and Samaria | Elisha Yared
The recent storm surrounding the Jewish presence at Tel Talpiot has revealed a little of the fierce battle that has been going on for the past decade on the mountaintops in Judea and Samaria. After the PA operated effectively within the framework of a strategic plan, the Jews have recently begun to fight back. Also: What are the important strongholds of control, and how many of them are still in the hands of the enemy. Part 1 of a special project of Olam Katan.
Elisha Yared
14th of Elul 5776 – 27/08/2026
Unlike other ministers in the Palestinian Authority, Walid Assaf knew the campaign on the open areas not only from an air-conditioned room. He did not grow up in the shiny corridors of a government building in Ramallah but came from the field, straight from long years in an Israeli prison for terrorist acts.
The combination he possessed, between organizational ability, broad strategic vision and fighting shoulder to shoulder, earned him the coveted position: Minister for the Struggle against Settlements and the Fence.
The mission of the ministry that stood at its head was exactly what its name suggests: a struggle, even violent if necessary, against Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, to restrict its steps and ensure that a Palestinian state would be established in its place. During the heyday of the Palestinian Authority, Assaf unexpectedly announced one day a new strategic plan that was being launched. At the end of 2020, the activity of the Committee to Combat Settlements, headed by Assaf, reached a new peak.
The pioneering settlement was just beginning to awaken and fight back when the Palestinian Authority had already concluded 11 years of activity under the Fayyad plan.
Within a few months, the committee (headed by Assaf) initiated dozens of violent riots against newly established farms and hills, organized violent provocations during the harvest, and conducted a series of lightning operations to take over and establish facts on the ground in Arab outposts at strategic points. The violent pattern of action of Assaf and his activists was regular and predictable, but no one was arrested.
Walid Assaf (right), photo: uncredited
Assaf, dissatisfied with the list of achievements he had garnered in the campaign in the open areas, decided to leap to the next ambitious goal. With the field coordinators in his office, most of whom were also released terrorists, the Palestinian minister drew up a plan that set the goal of conquering the high mountain peaks in Judea and Samaria.
The strategy of the plan was simple: a presence in the open area is a nice thing, but whoever seizes control of these high strongholds will control everything at the moment of truth.
PA launches plan to conquer 17 mountain peaks in Judea and Samaria
The plan was given the deceptively innocent name "National Campaign for the Protection of Mountain Peaks." Protection from whom? From the Settlers, of course. At the launch of the campaign, which was held on Mount Ebal, Assaf announced that the plan would initially include 17 mountain peaks throughout Judea and Samaria. The plan began operating immediately, and did not just include declarations and conferences. The goal was to conquer the peaks as quickly as possible.
Infrastructure, intensive construction and extensive Arab development in Jebel Ein Eina as part of the PA plan to conquer the mountain peaks, photo: Uncredited
With the village councils, the PA began to make the mountain ranges accessible to the Arab presence. Dirt roads were broken up and paved with limestone and asphalt in a short time, water and electricity infrastructures were established, and Assaf's office moved on to determining facts on the ground. Hundreds of olive trees were planted on the slopes of the mountains in events with many participants. A few days of tractor work, a day of planting with dozens of activists, and you can mark the V on the seizure of a huge area with little investment.
After the planting came construction, which gradually grew like mushrooms after the rain.
Within a few years, dominant ridges that were once rocky mountains were seized and became a front extension of the nearby village. The PA developed the infrastructure, subsidized costs, donated building materials, and the Arabs of the region for their part were quick to pounce on the find. To understand even a little bit what goals the Palestinian Authority has marked, where the battle is really going on these days, and what assets we could lose at any moment, this week we will conduct a partial introduction to the strongholds of control in Judea and Samaria.
Mountaintops
The height of a mountain above sea level is undoubtedly one of the key elements that make it a vital stronghold of control, but it is not always the highest mountains that are first on the list of desired points. It all depends on the space around each point. If the mountain is much higher than its neighbors, it will automatically become a central control point. Nevertheless, in the context of most of these places, this perimeter provides a great advantage and in this week we will open with a review of the ten highest mountains and ridges in Judea and Samaria.
Halhul Ridge
Highest point: Nebi Yunis, Beit Anut, 1,024 m. The ridge dominates Highway 60, which leads to Hebron, and overlooks the settlement of Karmei Tzur and the center of Gush Etzion. For years, the Palestinian Authority worked to seize the mountain peaks there, and even built houses and extensive agriculture on its slopes and avenues with the Arabs of the villages.
גבעת תל תלפיות בפסגת ג'בל עין עינה, צילום: ללא קרדיט
Tel Talpiot Hill at the summit of Jebel Ein Eina, photo: Uncredited
After nearly two decades of struggle waged by the Nachala Movement and residents of the area, the settlement point of Ma'alat Halhul was established on the ridge about a year ago, and was later officially approved to become a permanent settlement. The settlement was established on one of the peaks at the top of the ridge, but not at its highest point. One of the peaks is now dominated by Givat Beit Anut, which was later established by grazing sheep, and the other peak is located above the Tzomet Zechuchit junction and is still under Arab control.
A choke ring of Arab construction within touching distance of the Baal Hazor Ridge
Baal Hazor Ridge
Highest point: Tel al-Azur, 1,016 m. The ridge dominates the communities of Ofra and Kochav HaShahar, and overlooks virtually all the mountains in Judea and Samaria, from Samaria to Gush Etzion. For years it was completely abandoned except for a sensitive and strategic air control base, which was gradually surrounded by a choke ring of Arab construction that climbed to within touching distance of it. In recent years, the ridge has been filled with farms and hills that are cracking the Arab choke ring, but much work still remains.
One shoulder of the ridge, which rises to a height of 940 meters and is located near the village of Mazraa a-Sharqiya, still remains abandoned and poses a serious security danger. An area of massive Arab construction and non-stop development work. About two years ago, an Arab sniper stood on the mountain, which is absurdly designated as Area B despite being a clear observation post on Route 60, and fired accurately from his weapon, hitting a Border Police officer who was standing 800 meters away.
מבט מחוות חסד לאברהם בהר חצור – דרומה לישוב עפרה, צילום: ללא קרדיט
View from the Chesed LeAvraham Farm on Mount Hazor – south of the settlement of Ofra, photo: Uncredited
Miraculously, the policewoman only suffered moderate injuries, but the force was unable to eliminate the terrorist, and he fled the scene. In recent months, the Tzur Levavi Farm, located in Wadi Haramiya, has opened a summer shepherds' camp at the foot of the ridge, and has been advancing daily with the flock to the mountain to guard the strategic point. Despite their tremendous security contribution, this week, the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Kobi Heller, sent Border Guard forces to destroy the camp and confiscate the flock. As of this moment, the shepherds refuse to give up, and the struggle for control of the mountain continues.
Seir-Kuziba Ridge
Highest point: Ras Tawara, 1,012 m. The ridge lies east of the Halhul Ridge, consists of several peaks that are designated Area B and is currently under full Arab control. The ancient settlements of Ziur and Kuziba were once located here. Bar Kochba, who was probably a native of the area, was given his first name Bar Koziba, after his place of residence.
Control of the ridge is essential for connecting the center of Gush Etzion with its east
Many springs flow from the mountain, from which the aqueduct that brought water to Jerusalem collected through tunnels and bridges. Control of the ridge is essential for connecting the center of Gush Etzion with its east, which are currently cut off from each other by a hostile Arab bloc.
Hebron-Kiryat Arba
Highest point: Givat Al-Harasina, Alef Ridge, and Givat Gal (Jabal Jalis), 1,008 m. The high points are inhabited by Jews, and are surrounded by dense Arab construction.
Neve Daniel–Elezer–Efrat
Highest point: Matzpor Alef, 996 m. The entire area is inhabited by Jews. Additional high points: Neve Daniel: 984 m, Sde Boaz: 956 m, Rosh Tzurim: 955 m.
חורף ראשון עם נוכחות יהודית בפסגת ג'בל עין עינה
First winter with a Jewish presence at the summit of Jebel Ein Eina
Mount Ebal
Highest point: 940 m. The top of the mountain is designated Area C, but its slopes almost to its peak are designated Areas B and A. For years, the Palestinian Authority has conducted numerous operations to establish control over the mountain, which remains empty of Jews except for a small military base at its top. The Arab struggle to seize the ridge included breaking into infrastructure, preparing agricultural areas, and numerous terrorist attacks against a Jewish farm that was established there and was eventually evacuated under pressure from the Palestinian Authority.
Recently, a Jewish settlement was established at its top, along with another settlement point on its eastern slopes, towards the Joshua Altar. On its other slopes, there is still a risk of Arab takeover or one that is already occurring.
Mount Gilo
Highest point: 927 m. At the top of the ridge, which is located in the northern part of Gush Etzion, there is a Jewish settlement, but it is surrounded by dense Arab construction from the village of Beit Jala.
Ma'on Ridge Reches Ma'on
Highest point: Ras a-Tawamin, 911 m. The ridge dominates the settlements of Ma'on, Susiya and Yatir. For years, the Arab Mor clan ruled the area, which was expelled after its members murdered Yair Har Sinai, the HY"d, but the IDF returned the area in a infuriating move. About three years ago, after a long campaign waged by settlement activists from the area, the Arab invaders were expelled again, and the mountain is now home to the Chavat Sdei Harel, which was established in memory of Harel Massoud, Hy"d.
Psagot–Beit El
Highest point: 909 m. There are Jewish settlements at both high points, but a significant portion of the area around them is still under Arab control.
Jabel Ein Eina
Highest point: 904 m. A strategic peak that sits on the seam between the Binyamin region and Samaria and dominates the Shiloh bloc to the south, the Givat haYovel in Eli to the west, the settlement of Magdalim to the east, and Rachelim and Eviatar to the north.
The mountain was designated Area B in the Oslo Accords despite its security importance. Due to its key point of regional control, the Palestinian Authority has made extensive efforts in recent years to capture it: building many houses, most of which are not populated. Clearing roads and infrastructure was built. About eight months ago, a Jewish settlement was established at the top of the mountain, which was named Tel Talpiot. Since its establishment, the hill has been subjected to a series of incessant Arab attacks, alongside attempts by the villages in the area to complete the chokepoint around the mountain and climb to its summit.
These days, the struggle for Jewish control of the mountain is at its peak. The media "storm" about the "Siege of Qusra", which burst into our lives in the last two weeks and managed to sweep away innocent Jews who fell into the trap, was the result of this tremendous effort on the part of the enemy, who had been formulating his plan for months.
