Hilltop Youth

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Hilltop Youth (heb. נוער הגבעות -Noar Ha'Gvaot) is the term commonly used for several dissident youth groups in Israel. The groups seek to protect and encourage Jewish settlement in the West Bank. They are influenced by Zionist ideals. Their spiritual leader is Avri Ran, though he does not see himself as such and the group's philosophy is a mix of almost anarchist contempt for the Israeli government and a desire for a restored Jewish monarchy. They were also strongly influenced by the late Natanel Ozeri, who was murdered by Palestinians on Hilltop 26 near Hebron.

The groups are not centrally organized, but they regularly receive assistance such as legal fees from the mainstream settler organizations. Their main activity is erecting outposts outside existing settlements, often engaging in organic farming and shunning cheap Palestinian labor in favor of 'Avoda Ivrit' - Hebrew labor.

Many of the hilltop youth feel that the mainstream settler movement has lost its way, opting for cheap housing close to major cities, built by exploiting local Arab labor, with tall fences and no space between their homes. Much of Israel's organic produce is cultivated by the hill top youth.

A hand full of the new hilltops, such as Sde Boaz, Maaleh Rechavam and Esh Kodesh are populated by both religious and non-religious Jews and there is a sense that they wish to serve as an example of religious tolerance in a society where the two groups often live apart from one another.

The mainstream Israeli settlement movement and other right-wing parties insist that the Hilltop Youth are not part of their movement.