Nitzan (, lit. ''Flower bud'') is a religiously observant

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 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 ...

. Located within the Nitzanim Sand Dune Reserve north of

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council Hof Ashkelon Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Hof Ashkelon'', ''lit.'' Ashkelon Coast Regional Council) is a regional council (Israel), regional council in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. As of the year 2019, its po ...

. In it had a population of , including a large concentration of Bnei Menashe (10–20% of the population) from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

regions bordering India.

History

Kibbutz Nitzanim

The first settlement on Nitzan's current grounds was the kibbutz of Nitzanim in 1943. The kibbutz was established after the

Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

purchased a plot of land and a large house known as the "mansion" in 1942. The first residents were

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

, some of whom were

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

. It later absorbed more immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The kibbutz was conquered by Egypt during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, but recaptured by Israel towards the end of the conflict. However, the kibbutz was re-established to the south.

Nitzanim youth village

The original site became a

youth village A youth village () is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pioneers in this sphere, known as youth ...

. It operated as Nitzanim Youth Village in 1949–1990.

Nitzan

In 1990, the modern community settlement of Nitzan was established on the site of the youth village. By 1995 it had a population of 105. It experienced rapid expansion in the mid-2000s after being selected to temporarily house a large group of families evacuated from

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 ...

as part of the disengagement plan. (Many of them were Bnei Menashe immigrants.) 500 temporary caravillas were constructed on the eastern end of Nitzan (an area that became

Nitzan Bet Nitzan Bet () is a community settlement in southern Israel. Located between Ashdod and Ashkelon, next to Nitzan, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council and had a population of in . History The village was established ...

), and 250 more were ordered by the

Israeli Government The Israeli system of government is based on parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and leader of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government (also known as the cabinet). Legislat ...

. Several environmental organisations objected to the new construction, which increased Nitzan's area by four-and-a-half times. They feared damage to the fragile sand dune

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. The neighbourhood was also the target of criticism by settlers and Israeli human-rights groups, citing a lack of adequate housing and facilities. They argued that governmental negligence resulted in a housing shortage, forcing large families to separate into multiple caravillas, and that basic infrastructure like a youth area, nursery, and synagogue were absent. On 12 July 2012, the organization United With Israel delivered bomb shelters to the residents of Nitzan. It was a major event for the residents of Nitzan, whose children needed kindergarten bomb shelters. The event included children painting the shelters with murals, supervised by a professional mural artist.

References

{{Authority control Community settlements Religious Israeli communities Populated places in Southern District (Israel) Populated places established in 1949 1949 establishments in Israel

History

Kibbutz Nitzanim

Nitzanim youth village

Nitzan

See also

References