Girl power has been put into action by young women in their late teens, who have established Or Ahuvia, a new community near the West Bank community of Ofra, half an hour's drive north of Jerusalem.
On the mountains of Binyamin - an area adjacent to Jerusalem in the north, on the outskirts of the Jorden Valley - at this time of the year, nature is in full bloom. Cherry trees start to blossom, the rain makes its last appearance, and the grass and colorful flowers are growing everywhere.
Michal, the mother of Esther, 18, the informal leader of the Or Ahuvia outpost, has come for the first time to visit her daughter's new home. Two months ago, Esther and half a dozen young women went up on the hilltop and started to build the first house of the future West Bank community.
Miriam, age 16, talks about the preparation that went into creating the outpost.
"This was preceded by several months of extensive preparations. First, we consulted with local security experts and residents of the area. Then we scouted the area many times, we camped overnight on the hilltop, and we collected donations from families and friends. Originally, we planned to construct the village on an earlier date, but because of the October 7 massacre we delayed it for security reasons and also we went to help farmers in the south," she says.
Miriam doesn't attend school anymore. Rather, she studies by herself for her high school matriculation exams, as her friends Esther and Moriah did successfully.
"My parents were worried at the start, but since they realized that I'm actually taking on more responsibilities now and don't run away, they support me," she says.
She plans to establish another outpost after Or Ahuvia, which she hopes will be home to young families.
When Michal arrived at the hilltop community, her daughter Esther had just returned from a security patrol with Luna, the Belgian Shepherd dog, which she takes regularly around the hilltop to secure the property. Michal sees Esther after almost two weeks, during which she didn't visit her family home.
Esther works as a kindergarten teacher twice a week, and she is studying to become a makeup artist in Jerusalem. "My dream is to find a partner and live with my own family on the hill," she says.
Her mother says: "Esther grew up with a Zionist education and the example of the pioneers who built new Jewish villages before the establishment of the modern state of Israel, as well as after the liberation of Judea and Samaria in the Six Day War. In the 1990s, I participated in many political rallies against the Oslo Accords. I'm proud that my oldest daughter now acts and stands up for her beliefs for the future of Israel."
The West Bank outpost was established in memory of Ahuvia Sandak, who was killed in a car crash during a police chase in December 2020, after he allegedly threw rocks at Palestinians, and Ori and Roi Lipnik, who were ages 12 and 8 when they died in a car accident caused by an Arab driver six years ago in the West Bank. Ori was a close friend of Moriah, one of the founders of the outpost. Ahuvia Sandak's sister Rachel is also one of the founders.
The young women who founded the outpost got to know each other originally in Maoz Esther, another hilltop community established 15 years ago, where 14 families now live."I started to occasionally visit Maoz Esther at the age of 13, and by the age of 15 I started to permanently live there," Moriah says. "In Maoz Esther, we acquired many skills, including how to build permanent structures, how to use work tools, and how to train a dog for security. This was like an incubator for us. We are the only place in the hilltop movement that is run by girls alone," she says proudly.
Esther explains why they are establishing hilltop communities. "The Jewish people have the natural, historical and legal rights to the land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria, and we are fulfilling those rights. My vision is that every free hill in Judea and Samaria will be in Jewish hands. On the first day of our arrival, we transported with our car large plywood panels and other raw materials. Then we constructed, completely by ourselves, the walls and, on the second day, the roof. After that, we constructed the interior, built the kitchen corner, and created a separate room for a toilet and a shower. Furthermore, we planted trees in the surrounding area," she says.
The materials for constructing the buildings were all donated, but they pay for their own living expenses, for the most part. The Jewish communities in the area are very supportive, sometimes bringing warm food, and female teenagers from nearby help them safeguard the hill, especially during the night, so this burden will not lie solely on the girls living there. They recently installed a water pipe connected to the drinking water system with the help of a female hydraulic engineering student who lives in Ofra, so soon they will have a working toilet and shower.
"For us, all the difficulties are sweet, because we do it for the future of the Jewish people," Rachel Tzofia, sister of Ahuvia Sandak, said. "in the cold nights of February and early March, we didn’t have a heating system, so we slept in our jackets. Every day, when we go up or down the mountain, we walk all the way on foot."
Now the girls are preparing the hilltop to be welcoming for young families to come live there. They have improved the road with gravel and dug a sewage system. Their plans are to connect the place to the electric grid and replace the solar panels.
"We promise to build a house and plant fruit trees for any family that comes to live here, and they will only need to fund the raw materials", Moriah says.
After one hour of touring the house and the mountain, Esther's mother concludes: "This place is a perfect example of real feminism and women's power."