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 " ( plural of the name " Rachel " ) 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
Jericho bus firebombing
Jericho bus firebombing
Rehelim