Latrun

   A locality with a monastery at the foot of the Judean hills on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The monastery was founded in the 19th century by French Trappist monks. It is located at a strategic crossroads linking the Mediterranean coast to Jerusalem where the coastal plain meets the Judean hills. The Ayalon Valley, where Joshua completed the conquest of Canaan, is here. During the British mandate, a police fortress was built at the strategic location as was a detention camp where many Jewish political prisoners were held. A major effort was made by the Jews during Israel's War of Independence (1948^49) to take this area in order to open the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but it failed, and an alternative "Burma Road" had to be built to transport vital supplies to Jerusalem's embattled Jewish sector. The area was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War (1967).