Neve Daniel

Neve Daniel belongs to Gush Etzion, a group of Israeli settlements in the Judean hills between Jerusalem and Hebron.[1] It occupies a hilltop 3,254 feet, or 992 meters, above sea level and lies less than 15 kilometers southeast of Jerusalem.[1][7] A 2013 description placed it about 15 minutes from central Jerusalem.[4]

The community forms part of Gush Etzion’s northwestern highland sector, which is not continuously connected to the region’s desert-edge settlements.[8] It is also included on a map of Metropolitan Jerusalem, whose eastern sector encompasses Israeli localities in Judea and Samaria.[9] The metropolitan statistics for those localities cover only their Jewish population and exclude the Palestinian population.[9]

A border-planning study grouped Neve Daniel with eight other communities in a combined Betar Illit/Gush Etzion bloc and listed its population as 1,883, using Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics data mostly from 2009 and figures from 2007 or 2008 for some smaller communities.[10] The study did not identify which year applied to Neve Daniel. It said most of the bloc lay outside the security barrier, with a barrier section near Efrat, but did not establish Neve Daniel’s precise position relative to it.[10]

Neve Daniel was founded in 1982, during the development of Gush Etzion following the Six-Day War.[1] The wider bloc’s modern Jewish history predates the community. Four Jewish communities were established there between 1943 and 1947 and were destroyed during the War of Independence.[11] After Israel gained control of the area in 1967, descendants of earlier residents helped reestablish Kfar Etzion.[11] This history concerns the wider bloc rather than Neve Daniel itself.[1][11]

Residential expansion continued in subsequent decades.[6][12] In 2013, Neve Daniel was included among communities covered by Israel Land Authority planning for housing beyond the Green Line, although the announcement did not specify a local unit count.[12] In May 2018, the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council approved 170 housing units in Neve Daniel as part of approvals for approximately 450 units across Gush Etzion.[13] The regional council also described a broader planning effort involving approximately 17,000 units throughout the region.[13]

By July 2024, contractor Meir Cohen was undertaking a 170-unit project in Neve Daniel consisting of six-story buildings constructed using reinforced concrete.[6] The method involved concrete-strengthened walls; Cohen characterized the resulting homes as being “like a protected room.”[6]

On March 31, 2022, a terrorist armed with a screwdriver stabbed a passenger on a bus near the Neve Daniel junction in Gush Etzion.[14] An armed passenger shot and killed the terrorist, while the driver opened both doors to allow passengers to leave the bus.[14] The driver was treated for shock.[14]

Neve Daniel’s population was listed as 2,957 in 2025, compared with 2,745 in 2024 and 2,728 in 2023.[5] Earlier figures in the same population series were 2,675 in 2022, 2,656 in 2021, 2,658 in 2020, 1,735 in 2009, and 868 in 1999.[5] A separate reference entry recorded 1,020 residents in 2002.[1]

Other published counts have less precise dates: a regional study gave Neve Daniel’s population as 1,883, drawing on settlement statistics mostly from 2009 but using 2007 or 2008 figures for some communities with fewer than 2,000 residents.[10] It did not identify which year applied to Neve Daniel.[10] A separate Gush Etzion community table listed 1,978 residents without specifying the reference year.[11] These undated figures should be distinguished from the year-specific population series.[5][10]

The community is classified as religious.[11] A 2013 account described approximately 400 National Religious families, including many immigrants from North America, while a September 2015 account put the community at about 600 families.[4][15] A 2015 visitor’s account described a largely English-speaking, Shabbat-observant population with many young children.[2]

Immigration has also brought families from outside the English-speaking world.[7] In 2022, the Libenson family moved from Russia to a rented apartment in Neve Daniel with their two young sons and the husband’s mother, after a process delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a pregnancy.[7] The Gush Etzion Regional Council paid their first three weeks’ rent, and the couple described residents welcoming them and offering assistance.[7] Lea Libenson called the move “a natural destination for Jews,” while her husband, Israel, emphasized wanting their children to grow up in a Jewish environment and wear a kippah freely.[7]

Most Neve Daniel residents were employed outside the settlement in the early-2000s description of the community.[1] Proximity to Jerusalem also gave residents access to cultural and recreational activities beyond those organized locally.[4] Community activities described in 2013 included Torah study, celebrations, youth groups, and classes.[4]

Shabbat observance shapes local public life.[4][2] A family’s 2013 account described residents refraining from driving within Neve Daniel on Shabbat, allowing children to walk in the streets.[4] The family also described the community as closed and gated, which they associated with children being able to visit friends’ homes more freely.[4] A 2015 account described guards and round-the-clock security at the gated community.[2]

A family that moved from East Windsor, New Jersey, described practical assistance with their children’s adjustment to Israeli schools.[4] A young woman performing national service sat in class with the children to help them understand lessons, ran an after-school club combining games and homework assistance, and visited their home two evenings a week.[4] The family’s six children attended four schools in three settlements, with nearly 30 pupils in each child’s class.[4]

The same account described existing family connections in Neve Daniel: siblings Rabbi Jesse Horn and Judy Goldgrab had settled there with their families.[4] By 2013, Rabbi Horn and his wife, Tara, had lived in the community for seven years, while Judy and Barry Goldgrab had lived there for three.[4] Tara Horn said that the family had sought a “warm, friendly place where people care about each other” and had found it in Neve Daniel.[4]

Women in the community established an Orthodox women’s prayer service.[15] In a 2015 interview connected with a documentary about synagogues, participant Eisenman explained that she had initially wanted somewhere to spend Shabbat mornings with her young children.[15] After joining the service, she said she did not want to return to sitting behind the partition as an observer.[15]

Community members have also participated in discussions about support for non-heteronormative people.[16] In 2019, most attendees at one such meeting were mothers from Neve Daniel, accompanied by a handful of husbands and teenage girls.[16] The meeting took place in nearby Sde Boaz because Neve Daniel’s rabbi had barred it from being held within the community.[16]

Residents named in September 2015 included Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, former Knesset member Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli, and author Hayuta Deutsch.[15]

Mitzpor HaElef, the “Lookout of a Thousand,” is a viewpoint in Neve Daniel described as standing 1,000 meters above sea level.[3][17] Developed with the Jewish National Fund, the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and Neve Daniel, it was dedicated to the memory of Sam and Frieda Makovsky, relatives of community founder Chaim Makovsky.[3]

The lookout serves as a stop for tours of Gush Etzion.[3] Its views extend toward the mountains of Jordan to the east, Jerusalem to the north, and the Mediterranean coast from Gaza toward Tel Aviv to the west.[3] Another description identifies views toward the Dead Sea, the Temple Mount area, and Ashdod.[17] Access involves fewer than 20 steps, and large binoculars have been made available to visitors without charge.[17]

The viewpoint has also figured in a personal connection to the community from abroad: a couple living outside Israel arranged a marriage proposal in New York using a large photograph of the lookout because the woman had wanted to become engaged there.[3]

Neve Daniel lies beyond the Green Line.[2] The broader political and legal status of Israeli settlements is contested. The Anti-Defamation League notes that Palestinians and some in the international community treat Jewish neighborhoods built in areas acquired in 1967, including East Jerusalem, as settlements, while Israel disputes applying that category to Jewish neighborhoods and construction in East Jerusalem.[18]

UN Security Council Resolution 2334 states that settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity,” calls for settlement activity to cease, and says changes to the June 4, 1967 lines should not be recognized unless agreed through negotiations.[19] An INSS legal analysis notes that Security Council resolutions do not themselves create international law and that the resolution does not foreclose Israeli counterarguments.[19] These positions address settlement policy generally, not a separate legal ruling concerning Neve Daniel.[18][19]