Merhav Am () is a religious

community settlement A community settlement (, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of town or village in Israel and in the West Bank. In an ordinary town, anyone may buy property, but in a community settlement, the village's residents are organized in a cooperative an ...

in southern Israel. Located in the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert between

Yeruham Yeruham () is a local council (Israel), town in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel, in the Negev desert. It covers , and had a population of in . It is named after the Hebrew Bible, Biblical Jeroham. Until early 2011 th ...

and the

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Sde Boker Sde Boker () is a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Best known as the retirement home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Ramat HaNegev Regional Council Ramat HaNegev Regional Council () is a regional council in the Negev desert in Israel. With around 8,000 residents spread across 20 villages, the council is geographically the largest in Israel, covering more than 20% of Israel's landmass. The ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Merhav Am was founded by the Or Movement on 1 November 2001 and had a population of around 30 families by November 2006, many living in mobile homes. The original name was intended to be Halukim due to its proximity to the Halukim Hills (the nearest road junction is called ''Halukim Junction''). However, after around a year it was renamed Merhav Am, inspired by the wide open area in which it was to be built, as well as in honour of

Rehavam Ze'evi Rehavam Ze'evi ( ; 20 June 192617 October 2001) was an Israeli general and politician who founded the far-right nationalist Moledet party. He mainly advocated for complete cleansing of the Palestinian population through population transfer. ...

, a former Minister who was assassinated in 2001: In Hebrew ''Merhav'' (מרחב - MRHV) means "wide open spaces" whilst ''Rehavam'' is spelt using the last three letters of the word plus two more (רחבעם - RHVAM). Combining the two gives Merhav Am (MRHV+AM).

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Religious Israeli communities Community settlements Populated places in Southern District (Israel) Populated places established in 2001 2001 establishments in Israel