Bnei Atzmon () was an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

previously in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

, later moved to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

before being destroyed in 2005.

History

Bnei Atzmon was founded in 1979 in the Yamit region of the Sinai Peninsula as a response to the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

, which promoted trading territory for peace. In 1982, the settlement was relocated to the

Gush Katif Gush Katif () was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces removed the 8,600 Israeli residents from their homes after a decision from the Cabinet of Israel. The communities were demo ...

region of the Gaza Strip about three kilometres north of

Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...

after the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty and the subsequent eviction of all Jews living in Sinai and surrender of all land there. The settlement in Sinai was originally named Atzmona, but since that location was evacuated and Israeli law forbids renaming a new location with that of a previously existing legal entity, Bnei Atzmon (''Sons of Atzmon'', named after the Biblical border point of Israel (Numbers 34:4-5)), became the officially registered name. Nonetheless, it is more often referred to as Atzmona. The

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

's mostly

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

was associated with the Amana settlement organization. On March 7, 2002, a terrorist from Hamas killed 5 Israeli civilians aged 18 and injured 23 others. It was destroyed in 2005 by the Israeli government as part of the

Israeli disengagement from Gaza In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. The disengagement was executed unilaterally: Israeli a ...

Education

The Regional

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...

School for nearby children was located in Bnei Atzmon, as well as the prestigious religious pre-army

Mechina A mechina kdam-tzvait (; "pre-military preparatory", plural mechinot) is an autonomous unit of specialized educational institutions valuing non-formal education and pre-military training in Israel. They are funded and supported by the Ministry ...

, ''Otzem'', with 150 students under the leadership of the Rabbi Rafi Peretz. On the settlement was a branch of the Ariel

youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for Minor (law), minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted othe ...

Economy

Several local industries provided employment for residents areas including the "Atzmona nursery" for house plants, which was the second largest in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and a factory producing cleaning materials. In the cooperative settlement, there was area of more than 50,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s (50 km²) of field crops in the Besor area, 12 dunams (12,000 m²) of

turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

coops, a barn, and a building company.

Evacuation

It was home to about 90 families, including just under 600 people, at the time of its destruction as a result of

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlement, Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. The disengagement was executed unil ...

on August 17, 2005. While some form of opposition had been expected from residents in this nationalistic settlement, the actual expulsion was carried out without active or even passive resistance. The pre-army preparatory program was also pulled without resistance, with the participation of several senior army officers who had been invited especially for this "pull-out."

References

External links

Aerial photo of Bnei Atzmon
* {{Authority control 1978 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate 2005 disestablishments in Palestine Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Populated places established in 1979 Sinai Peninsula