After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu planted a cedar tree at Kfar Etzion last week, 3,000 young members of the Ezra youth movement planted 3,000 trees at nearby Efrat, which is also known as “the capital of Gush Etzion.” Soldiers from the Judea and Samaria Division Headquarters, as well as the Civil Administration, participated in the planting. 

Organizers noted that the Civil Administration soldiers' participation was a welcome departure from their daily task of enforcing the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria. 

The event began at 10:00 AM and continued until sunset. 3,000 young Ezra members arrived in 50 buses from all over Israel, to take part in planting the trees in the HaZait neighborhood of the city.

The area in which the trees were planted is intended to be part of a large amusement park.

After completing the planting, the Ezra children and youths embarked upon a seven-kilometer march around Efrat, and ended the day with a lively ceremony.

Efrat mayor Oded Revivi said in his speech that the thousands of trees planted this year, as well as the tens of thousands who live in Gush Etzion and the hundreds of thousands who visit every year, are all expressions of the deep roots of the Jewish people in the land of the Gush.

All photos by Gershon Elinson.