He Who Controls the Mountains Controls the Land
He Who Controls the Mountains Controls the Land: The Palestinian Authority’s Dangerous Plan to Seize the High Ground in Judea and Samaria
By Elisha Yered
Originally published in Olam Katan News | August 27, 2026/14 Elul 5786
The recent uproar over the Jewish presence at Tel Talpiot has only slightly revealed the clash of titans that has been raging for the past decade over the mountain peaks of Judea and Samaria. After years of methodical work by the Palestinian Authority under a strategic plan, Jews have only recently begun to push back.
Also in this report: the key control points and how many of them remain in enemy hands. Part I of a special project in Olam Katan.
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Unlike other ministers in the Palestinian Authority, Walid Assaf did not know the battle for open land only from an air-conditioned office. He did not rise through the polished corridors of the government campus in Ramallah. He came from the field, after years in an Israeli prison for terrorist activity.
The combination he brought — organizational skill, a broad strategic outlook, and combat experience — earned him a prized post: minister for the struggle against the settlements and the security barrier.
The ministry’s mission matched its name: to fight Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, including with violence when necessary, in order to hem it in and ensure that a Palestinian state would be built in its place. During periods when the PA was stronger, Assaf suddenly announced that a new strategic plan was underway. Toward the end of 2020, the Committee to Combat Settlements, which he headed, reached a new peak of activity.
Pioneer Jewish settlement was only beginning to wake up and fight back when the Palestinian Authority had already completed 11 years of work under the Fayyad Plan.
Within a few months the committee launched dozens of violent rampages against newly established farms and hilltop communities, organized violent provocations during the olive harvest, and carried out a series of lightning operations to seize land and create facts on the ground at Arab outposts on strategic points. Assaf’s violent pattern was systematic and predictable. No one was arrested.
Walid Assaf, on the right. Photo: Uncredited.
Satisfied with his gains in the open areas, Assaf decided to move on to the next, more ambitious target. Together with his field coordinators—most of them also released terrorists—he drew up a plan whose goal was to seize the highest mountain peaks in Judea and Samaria.
The strategy was simple: presence in open land is useful, but whoever holds these high strongholds will control everything when the decisive moment comes.
The PA launched a plan to seize 17 mountain peaks.
The plan was given a deceptively mild name: the “National Campaign to Defend Mountain Peaks.” Defend them from whom? From the very inheritors of the Land of Israel—the Jewish settlers, of course. At the launch, held at Mount Ebal, Assaf announced that the first stage would include seventeen peaks across Judea and Samaria. The plan went into effect at once and was not limited to speeches and conferences. The goal was to take the peaks as quickly as possible.
Infrastructure, intensive construction and extensive Arab development in Jabal Ain Ina as part of the PA plan to seize the mountain ridges. Photo: Uncredited.
Working with village councils, the PA began making the ridges accessible to Arab presence. Dirt tracks were cut and then quickly paved with gravel and asphalt. Water and electricity infrastructure was installed. Assaf’s office then moved on to creating facts on the ground. Hundreds of olive trees were planted on the mountain slopes during large public events. A few days of tractor work followed by a single day of planting with dozens of activists was enough to mark a vast area as “taken at little cost.”
After the plantings came construction, which spread rapidly—like mushrooms after rain.
Within a few years, commanding ridges that had once been barren rocky hills became forward extensions of the nearest villages. The PA developed infrastructure, subsidized costs, and donated building materials. Local Arabs rushed to take advantage.
To understand even partially which targets the PA has marked, where the struggle is being waged right now, and which assets could be lost at any moment, we begin a partial survey of the control strongholds in Judea and Samaria.
The Mountain Tops
Elevation above sea level is undoubtedly one of the main elements that make a ridge a vital control point; however, the tallest mountains are not always first on the list of strategic sites. Everything actually depends on the terrain surrounding each point. If a mountain rises far above its neighbors, it automatically becomes a major control point. So, because height usually provides a distinct advantage, we begin this week with an overview of the ten highest mountains and ridges in Judea and Samaria:
1. The Halhul Ridge
High point: Nabi Yunis/Beit Anot, 1,024 meters.
The ridge commands Highway 60 toward Hebron and looks out as far as Karmei Tzur and the center of Gush Etzion. For years the PA worked to seize the hilltops along it and, together with nearby villages, built houses and extensive agriculture along its flanks and spine.
Tel Talpiot Hill at the summit of Jabal Ain Ina. Photo: Uncredited
After nearly two decades of struggle by the Nachala movement and local residents, a settlement point named Ma’alot Halhul was established on the ridge about a year ago and was later officially approved as a permanent community. It was built on one of the ridge’s high knolls, but not on the highest peak. One of the those highest knolls is now held by the Beit Anot hill, later established through sheep grazing. The other knoll, above the Glass Junction, remains under Arab control.
A ring of Arab construction closing in on the Baal Hatzor Ridge
2. Ba’al Hatzor Ridge
High point: Ba’al Hatzor, 1,016 meters.
The ridge commands Ofra and Kochav HaShachar and looks out over almost all the mountains in Judea and Samaria, from Samaria to Gush Etzion. For years it was left almost entirely exposed, except for a sensitive, strategic air-control base that became surrounded by a tightening ring of Arab construction climbing to within touching distance. In recent years the ridge has begun to fill with farms and hilltop points that crack that ring, but much work remains to be done.
One shoulder of the ridge, rising to 940 meters near the village of Mazra’a a-Sharqiya, is still abandoned and poses a severe security danger. Massive Arab construction and nonstop development work are underway there. About two years ago, an Arab sniper stood on the mountain—absurdly classified as Area B even though it is a clear observation post over Highway 60—fired accurately, and hit a female Border Police officer 800 meters away.
A view of the Chesed L’Abraham Farm on Mount Hatzor – south of the settlement of Ofra. Photo: Uncredited
3. Sa’ir–Koziba Ridge
High point: Ras Tawarah, 1,012 meters.
Situated east of the Halhul Ridge, it consists of several peaks designated as Area B and is currently under full Arab control. The ancient settlements of Tzior and Koziba were historically located here. Bar Kokhba, who was apparently a native of the area, was first known as Bar Koziba, after his home.
Control of the ridge is essential for reconnecting the center of Gush Etzion with its eastern part.
Many springs rise from the mountain. From them, the aqueduct that carried water to Jerusalem collected its flow through tunnels and bridges. Control of the ridge is crucial for reconnecting the center of Gush Etzion to its portion in the east. Today, they are separated from each other by a hostile Arab bloc.
4. Hebron–Kiryat Arba
High points: Giv’at HaHarsina, The Thousand Ridge, and Giv’at Gal (Jabal Jalis), 1,008 meters.
These high points are populated by Jews, and are surrounded by dense Arab construction.
5. Neve Daniel–Elazar–Efrat
High point: Mitzpor HaElef (Lookout 1,000), 996 meters.
The entire area is settled by Jews.
Other high points: Neve Daniel (984m), Sde Boaz (956m), Rosh Tzurim (955m).
First winter with Jewish presence on the summit of Jabal Ain Ina. No credit noted.
6. Mount Ebal
High point: 940 meters.
The summit is designated Area C, but its slopes almost to the top are designated Areas B and A. For years, the PA ran many operations to establish control over the mountain, which remained empty of Jews except for a small military base at the summit. The Arab struggle to seize the ridge included cutting infrastructure, preparing farmland, and many terror attacks against a Jewish farm that was established there and was evacuated under PA pressure.
Recently, a Jewish community was established at the summit alongside another settlement on its eastern slopes toward Joshua’s Altar. On the remaining slopes there is still a danger of Arab takeover — or a takeover already underway.
7. Har Gilo
High point: 927 meters.
At the top of the ridge, a Jewish community is located in the northern part of Gush Etzion; however, dense Arab construction from the village of Beit Jala surrounds it.
8. Ma’on Ridge
High point: Ras al-Tawamin, 911 meters.
The ridge commands Ma’on, Susya, and Yatir. For years, the Arab Mur clan controlled the site, but they were evicted after clan members murdered Yair Har Sinai (may G-d avenge his blood). However, in an outrageous countermove, the IDF brought them back. About three years ago, after a prolonged campaign by local settlement activists, the Arab squatters were expelled again. The mountain is now home to Sde Harel Farm, established in memory of Harel Masoud (may G-d avenge his blood).
9. Psagot–Beit El
High point: 909 meters.
Both of its high points hold Jewish communities, although much of the surrounding area remains under Arab control.
10. Jabal Ain Ina
High point: 904 meters.
A strategic peak on the seam between Binyamin and the rest of the Samaria region. It commands the Shilo bloc from the south, Giv’at HaYovel in Eli from the west, Migdalim from the east, and Rechelim and Evyatar from the north.
Despite its security importance, the mountain is designated Area B in the Oslo Accords. Because it is a key point for regional control, the PA has made extensive efforts in recent years to seize it: Building numerous homes — most of them never occupied; breaking ground, and establishing infrastructure. About eight months ago, a Jewish settlement point, meriting the name Tel Talpiot, was established on its summit. Since then the hill has faced a continuous series of Arab attacks, along with attempts by nearby villages to complete a chokehold ring around the mountain and climb to its peak.
The fight for Jewish control of the mountain is now at its height. The media “storm” over the “siege at Qusra,” which erupted in the past two weeks and even swept along some naïve Jews who fell for it, was the direct result of this massive enemy effort, planned over many months.