Latrun

Latrun (Hebrew: לטרון‎, Latrun; Arabic: اللطرون‎, al-Latrun) is located at a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley. It overlooks the road between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla. It was the site of fierce fighting during the 1948 war. During the 1948–1967 period, it was occupied by Jordan at the edge of a no man's land between the armistice lines known as the Latrun salient. In the 1967 war, it was captured by Israel along with the whole salient and the West Bank, and remains under Israeli occupation.

The hilltop includes Latrun Trappist Monastery, Mini Israel, a park with scale models of historic buildings around Israel, The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration (ICSBM), which is adjacent to Yad La-Shiryon Memorial and Museum. Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace) is a joint Jewish-Arab community on a hilltop south of Latrun. Canada Park is nearby to the east.

Etymology

The name Latrun is ultimately derived from the ruins of a medieval castle. There are two theories regarding the origin of the name. One is that it is a corruption of the French, Le toron des chevaliers (The Castle of the Knights), named by the Crusaders. The other is that it is from the Latin, Domus boni Latronis (The House of the Good Thief), a name given by 14th century Christian pilgrims after the penitent thief who was crucified by the Romans alongside Jesus (Luke 23:40–43).