Beit Alfa

Infobox Kibbutz
name= Beit Alfa


caption=
imgsize=250


caption3=
imgsize3=
hebname=Hebrew|בֵּית אַלְפָא
arname=
foundation = 4 November 1922
founded_by = Hashomer Hatzair
district = Gilboa Regional Council
council = Menashe
industry = Agriculture
affiliation = Kibbutz Movement
website = [http://www.betalfa.org.il www.betalfa.org.il]
meaning=
founded=November 21, 1962
district=north
population=1100
popyear=
area_dunam=
mayor=
pushpin_

pushpin_mapsize=
latd=32 |latm=30 |lats=58 |latNS=N
longd=35 |longm=25 |longs=49 |longEW=E
website= Beit Alfa ( _he. בֵּית אַלְפָא) is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, near the Gilboa ridge. The kibbutz was founded in 1922 by Hashomer Hatzair volunteers. In 1940 some of the members, affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, moved to Ramat Yohanan kibbutz, in exchange for supporters of Mapai from Ramat Yohanan. Its dairy was the first Israeli dairy to use robotic milking technology.

The Beit Alfa Synagogue National Park in the nearby kibbutz of Heftziba, contains an ancient Byzantine-era synagogue, with a mosaic floor depicting the lunar Hebrew months as they correspond to the signs of the zodiac. [cite web| title=Beit Alfa Synagogue National Park (on Kibbutz Hefzibah)| url=http://www.parks.org.il/ParksENG/company_card.php3?NewNameMade=0&from=116&CNumber=334516| publisher=Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority| accessdate=2007-09-22]

Controversy

Kibbutz Beit Alfa has been controversial because one of its main industries is riot control equipment that is sold to regimes that some accuse of abusing human rights. During the 1980s, Beit Alfa sold water cannon to the apartheid regime in South Africa. [See "An Israeli Dilemma: S. African Ties; Moves to Cut Links Are Slowed by Economic Pressures, Sentiment," The Washington Post, 20 September 1987.] Officials from Beit Alfa have defended selling such weapons to human-rights abusing regimes, on the grounds that compared with live ammuniton, water cannon save the lives of demonstrators who otherwise might be shot dead with live ammunition. [ [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0823-02.htm "Israeli Riot-Gear Sale Fuels Concern," Christian Science Monitor, 23 August 2001] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.betalfa.org.il Official website] he icon