Gush Etzion Junction("Tzomet HaGush") also known as Gush Junction is a 120-dunam (0.12 km2; 0.046 sq mi) business, commercial and tourism center in the southern West Bank, which serves as the entry point to the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements. It is administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
Long known as a "congenial meeting spot for Israelis and Palestinians," in the fall of 2015 the junction was the site of about ten Palestinian attacks against Israelis.[1][2]
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.[4][5]
On the southwest are a gas station,[6] an automotive repair shop, an electronics store, a Judaica center[3] and a Rami Levy discount supermarket.[7] 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.[1]
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (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.[8]
A visitors' center is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the west in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion[6] as is the mehadrin dairy/fish restaurant, Gavna.[9]
Attacks
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.
January 2006: A Palestinian man stabs an Israeli man and girl; the attacker is shot and injured by an off-duty police officer.[11]
December 2009: A woman is stabbed in the back by a Palestinian man.[2][12]
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.[13][1] In response, the government is planning bypass roads to separate Israeli vehicles from Palestinian vehicles at this junction.[14]
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.[15]
Attempted attacks
November 2010: A Palestinian man attempts to stab Israeli civilians at the junction and is arrested by the IDF.[16]
January 2011: Shots are fired in the area; there are no injuries.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19][20]
