WORLD : New Judean Jewish Settlement
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ALON, Occupied West Bank — In a fresh burst of settlement activity, a crane hoisted seven mobile homes onto a rocky hilltop in the Judean Desert today, setting up the core of a new Jewish community in the occupied West Bank.
The founding of Alon was the latest move in a campaign that has gained momentum since March, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir took the reins of a caretaker government without the left-of-center Labor Party, which opposes settlement building.
Several settler leaders, including Rabbi Moshe Levinger and Pinchas Wallerstein, watched as bulldozers smoothed the rocky ground for the mobile homes.
New residents of Alon, which overlooks the Jordan Valley 10 miles east of Jerusalem, raised wine glasses in a toast.
“In five years, there will be a big city here,” said Eliyakim Haetzni, a Parliament member for the pro-settlement Tehiya Party.
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