Gush Etzion Junction

Gush Etzion Junction is located in the northern Judean Hills at about 950 m above sea level. The junction is a 25-meter (82 ft) diameter roundabout (traffic circle) at the intersection of Route 60 and Route 367. Nearby communities include Efrat, Elazar, Alon Shvut, Kfar Etzion, Migdal Oz and Beit Fajjar. It is a 15-minute drive to the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and approximately 70 minutes' drive to Tel Aviv.

Adjacent to the junction on the northwest are a plant nursery, a shop selling snacks, cigarettes and lottery tickets and The Gush Etzion Winery and its mehadrin dairy/fish restaurant, BaYekev.{{cite web |url=http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/tourism%5Cwinery.htm |title=Gush Etzion Wineries |publisher=Gush Etzion |accessdate=30 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708095236/http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/tourism/winery.htm |archivedate=8 July 2013 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.gushetzion-winery.co.il/restaurant |title=Welcome to Gush Etzion Winery's restaurant |accessdate=30 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504140429/http://www.gushetzion-winery.co.il/restaurant |archive-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}

On the southwest are a gas station,{{cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/Travel/AroundIsrael/Article.aspx?id=188316 |title=Take a Tour of Gush Etzion |last=Bar-Am |first=Aviva |date=17 September 2010 |work=The Jerusalem Post |accessdate=30 May 2011}} an automotive repair shop, an electronics store, a Judaica center{{cite journal |url=http://www.ou.org/publications/ja/5760winter/gush%20etzion%201%20only.pdf |title=Gush Eztion |last=Abelow |first=Peter |journal=Jewish Action |publisher=OU |date=Winter 1999}} and a Rami Levy discount supermarket.{{cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/InJerusalem/Article.aspx?id=181516 |title=Cornering the Supermarket? |last=Rebacz |first=Mark |date=16 July 2010 |accessdate=30 May 2011 |work=The Jerusalem Post}} Attached to the supermarket is a hamburger joint, a pizzeria and a discount clothing store, all part of the Rami Levi group. In 2015 a competing chain of supermarkets, Shufersal opened a store.

{{Update|section|date=December 2015}}

As of 2007, Rami Levi had begun construction of a two-story shopping mall as an extension to the south side of the supermarket and above it.{{cite web |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138704 |title=Gush Etzion Foresees 50 Percent Growth Rate |last=Fendel |first=Hillel |date=21 July 2010 |accessdate=30 May 2011 |work=Arutz Sheva}}

A visitors' center is located {{convert|4|km|mi|1}} to the west in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion as is the mehadrin dairy/fish restaurant, Gavna.{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/112033 |title=Photo Feature: Hilltop Restaurant Bridges Shades of Old and New |date=15 September 2006 |accessdate=30 May 2011|last=HaLevi |first=Ezra |work=Arutz Sheva}}

The hitchhiking post at the junction has frequently been the site of a number of shootings and stabbings, as well as several failed attempts at attacks.

• October 2005: Three killed, three injured in a shooting attack at the junction.{{cite web |url=http://www.onefamilyfund.org/article.asp?id=2962 |title=3 Killed, 4 Wounded in Shooting Attacks |work=Haaretz |publisher=One Family Fund |date=17 October 2005 |accessdate=30 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928215152/http://www.onefamilyfund.org/article.asp?id=2962 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}
• January 2006: A Palestinian man stabs an Israeli man and girl; the attacker is shot and injured by an off-duty police officer.{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/2-stabbed-at-gush-etzion-junction-1.181478 |title=2 Stabbed at Gush Etzion junction |last=Lis |first=Jonathan |date=3 January 2006 |accessdate=30 May 2011 |work=Haaretz}}
• December 2009: A woman is stabbed in the back by a Palestinian man.{{cite web |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3818922,00.html |title=Stabbing attack: in Gush Etzion, 1 injured |last=Weiss |first=Efrat |work=Ynetnews |date=13 December 2009 |accessdate=30 May 2011}}
• November 2015: 2015 Gush Etzion Junction shooting on November 19, 2015, a Palestinian man shot and killed 3 people (including American student, Ezra Schwartz, and Alon Shvut resident Rabbi Yaakov Don) and wounded 5. On November 23, 2015, A Palestinian man stabbed and killed a 21-year-old student Hadar Buchris. He was shot and killed by security forces at the scene.{{cite web |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/hadar-buchris-21-murdered-at-etzion-junction-to-be-laid-to-rest-monday/ |title= Hadar Buchris, 21, murdered at Etzion junction, to be laid to rest|work=Timesofisrael |date=22 November 2015 |accessdate=22 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Kershner|first1=Isabel|title=West Bank Shopping Complex, a Symbol of Coexistence, Is Shaken|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/middleeast/west-bank-shopping-complex-a-symbol-of-coexistence-is-shaken.html|accessdate=15 December 2015|work=New York Times|date=14 December 2015}} In response, the government is planning bypass roads to separate Israeli vehicles from Palestinian vehicles at this junction.{{cite news|last1=Rudoren|first1=Jody|title=Benjamin Netanyahu Plans Separate Bypass Roads for Israelis in Parts of West Bank|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/world/middleeast/netanyahu-plans-separate-bypass-roads-for-israelis-in-parts-of-west-bank.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0|accessdate=24 November 2015|work=New York Times|date=23 November 2015}}
• September 2018: A Palestinian teenager, Khalil Jabarin, 17, from Yatta fatally stabbed a 45-year-old Israeli-American man who lived in Efrat, Ari Fuld, at a shopping mall near the Gush Etzion junction.{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-american-fatally-stabbed-in-the-west-bank-1537114584 |title=Israeli-American Fatally Stabbed in the West Bank |last=Schwartz |first=Felicia |work=WSJ |date=16 September 2018 |accessdate=17 September 2018}}

• November 2010: A Palestinian man attempts to stab Israeli civilians at the junction and is arrested by the IDF.{{cite web |url=http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/updates/10/11/2504.htm |title=Palestinian attempts to stab Israeli civilians at Gush Etzion junction |date=25 November 2010 |publisher=Israel Defence Forces |accessdate=30 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406135628/http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/updates/10/11/2504.htm |archive-date=6 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}
• January 2011: Shots are fired in the area; there are no injuries.{{cite web |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4019126,00.html |title=Gush Etzion: Shots fired, IDF combing area |work=Ynetnews |date=25 January 2011 |accessdate=30 May 2011}}
• October 2015: A Palestinian man tried to ram into Israelis waiting at a bus stop but hit the concrete blocks placed there to stop such attacks. A 20-year-old IDF soldier and a 21-year-old Israeli civilian were lightly wounded. He exited his car with a knife drawn and tried to stab his victims and was shot and killed.{{cite web |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4713757,00.html |title= IDF soldier stabbed in fourth attack of the day|work=Ynetnews |date=20 October 2015 |accessdate=20 October 2015}}
• March 2016 On March 15, 2016, an Arab woman described by authorities as a terrorist was injured after she drove her car to attack a bus shelter, but lost control as IDF soldiers shot into her car, and crashed into bollard poles protecting the bus stop before she could hurt anyone. She was immediately apprehended and taken to hospital for treatment of her injuries.{{cite news|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/ramming-attack-foiled-at-gush-etzion-junction/2017/03/15/?pushcrew_powered|title=Ramming Attack Foiled at Gush Etzion Junction|publisher=Jewish Press|date=March 15, 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Gross|first1=Judah Ari|title=Female assailant shot during suspected car-ramming attempt|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-woman-shot-during-suspected-car-ramming-attempt/|accessdate=22 March 2017|publisher=Times of Israel|date=15 March 2017}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101010014626/http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/council.asp Gush Eztion Regional Council website]

{{Gush Etzion Regional Council}}

{{Judea and Samaria}}

{{coord|31|38|46.05|N|35|7|55.85|E|display=title}}

Category:Road junctions in Israel

Category:Gush Etzion

Category:West Bank

Category:Roundabouts and traffic circles