- Gesher, Israel
Infobox_Kibbutz
kibbutz_name = Gesher
foundation = 1939
founded_by = Movement Hanoar Haoved and immigrants fromGermany .
region =Beit She'an Valley
industry = Agriculture )avocado,etc), fish, cattle, plaster, magnets
affiliation =Kibbutz Movement
website = [http://www.gesher.org.il www.gesher.org.il]Gesher ( _he. גשר, lit. "Bridge") is a
kibbutz in theBeit She'an Valley in northeasternIsrael . Founded in 1939 by immigrants fromGermany , it falls under the jurisdiction ofBeit She'an Valley Regional Council . It is situated 10km south of kibbutz Deganya Aleph and 15km south of Tiberias. The population is approximately 500 inhabitants. It is named after the neighbouring bridge (hebr: Gesher)Naharayim , over theJordan river.The kibbutz was founded in 1939 on lands bought with the help of
Edmond de Rothschild , by a group ofJews born inPalestine who were members of the youth movement Hanoar Haoved and a group of young Jews fromGermany . They were later joined by Jewish immigrants fromPoland , Germany,Austria and additonal Palestinian Jews. At the beginning, the kibbutz was located near the bridge Naharaim and was a "homa umigdal"Tower and stockade settlement.Between April and May 1948 it was attacked by
Iraq i forces and by theArab Legion . Fifty children of the kibbutz were then evacuated for a year and half to a shelter in a German cloister inHaifa . In the end, the besieged Jews in the Britishpolice station, together with soldiers of theGolani Brigade , succeeded to stop theArab attacks but the kibbutz was destroyed during combat. After the Israel Independence War the settlement was moved several hundred meters north west, near the Givat Hagamal.During the
War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970 the kibbutz was attacked with bombs, mines and gunfire byPLO Arab Palestinian fighters. In the 1990s it underwent a privatization process, preserving the collective model only in the areas of education, health, culture and leisure.After the peace agreement between
Israel and theKingdom of Jordan was founded on the ancient site of the kibbutz a kind of museum called 'the Yard of the Old Gesher" - Hatzar Gesher Hayeshana - which exhibits the history of the place and of the power station ofNaharayim .ources
* Imanuel Reuveni - Lexicon of Holy Land - Eretz Israel Lexicon (Leksikon Eretz Israel - in Hebrew)
Yedioth Ahronoth - Chemed Books Publishing house, 1999.
* Yuval Elezri (ed) - lexicon Mapa - Eretz Israel (in Hebrew) - Maps Concise Gazetteer of Israel Today 2003, Tel Aviv MAP Mapping and Publishing.External links
* [http://www.gesher.org.il Official website] he icon
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