On 27 October 1991, busloads of Jewish settlers were on their way to a protest in Tel Aviv against the peace negotiations in Madrid, when one of the buses came under attack from Palestinians. The driver, Yitzhak Rofeh from West Jerusalem, and Rachel Drouk, of Shilo, were killed. After Rachel's funeral, women from settlements all over the West Bank set up tents at the site, and remained there despite official disapproval. For a long time, only women and children lived there. It was named "Rehelim" after 3 Rachels: Rachel Drouk; Rachel Weiss, who was killed in the Jericho bus firebombing; and the matriarch Rachel. According to one of its founders, Shabtay Bendet, who left Rehelim later to work for the Peace Now NGO as director of their settlements watch, “We created facts on the ground without any approval from the government and only worked tried to get permission after the fact." According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 376 dunams of land from the Palestinian village of As-Sawiya in order to construct Rehelim. In 1999, the Council of the European Union reported that Rehelim had gained retroactive approval from the Israeli government on the basis of its location being on survey land that was transferred to state land. In 2007 the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics listed a change in the status of Rehelim as belonging to the area of Kfar Tapuach, and not an independent settlement. However, the settlement was officially recognised in 2012. In 2016 Rehelim opened its doors to Rabbi Yehuda Libman, formerly of the settlement of Yitzhar and a lieutenant colonel in the IDF reserves, allowing him to establish the Pri Ha’aretz yeshiva on the settlement's outskirts. In 2018, the Killing of Aisha al-Rabi occurred near Rehelim, the Shin Bet arrested five students from the Pri Ha’aretz yeshiva alleging they were responsible. attack by students of the local Yeshiva.
Economy
The Tura boutique winery is located in Rehelim. The winery was founded in 2003 as Erez Winery, and renamed in 2005. The grapes are grown in vineyards on Har Brakha at an elevation of 840 meters. In 2010, the winery was producing some 12,000 bottles annually, chiefly from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay grapes.
