District Judea and Samaria Area Region West Bank Founded 31 January 1982 | Council Har Hevron Affiliation Mishkei Herut Beitar Population (2015) 336 | |
 | ||
Weather 18°C, Wind W at 11 km/h, 53% Humidity | ||
Telem (Hebrew: תֶּלֶם) is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the southern Judean Hills region, west of Kiryat Arba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Har Hevron Regional Council. In 2015 it had a population of 336.
Contents
Map of Telem
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.
History
The settlement was established on 31 January 1982 as a pioneering Nahal military outpost and demilitarized only a year later when turned over for residential purposes in the form of a non-religious cooperative village (Hebrew: מושב שיתופי, moshav shitufi) belonging to the Herut Betar movement. In 1995, with the assistance of the Amana settlement organization, houses were built.
In 2004, a group of about twenty religious families joined the village in order to strengthen and build a mixed community. In the centre of the village, a Beit Midrash was established and named the 'Netivot Dror Yeshiva' in memory of Dror Weinberg, an Israel Defense Forces army colonel who, as of 2007, was the highest ranking Israeli soldier to be killed during the Second Intifada.
The community still has agriculture including grape vineyards and chicken coops. Its original name was Mitzpe Guvrin since it overlooks the Beit Guvrin region.