Beit HaArava

Infobox_Kibbutz
kibbutz_name = Beit HaArava
foundation = 1939 (original)
1980 (re-establishment)
founded_by = European Zionist youth fleeing Nazi Germany in the youth aliyah
region = Arabah
council = Megilot Regional Council
industry =
affiliation =
website =

Beit HaArava ( _he. בֵּית הָעֲרָבָה, "lit." House of the Arava) is a kibbutz and Israeli settlement in the Megilot Regional Council near the Dead Sea and Jericho, in what is now the central West Bank. It is located at the eponymous Beit HaArava Junction, at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 90

History

The kibbutz is named for the Biblical village of the same name, which is in turn named for its location in the Arabah plain. The village was originally established in 1939 by European members of Zionist youth movements who had fled Nazi Germany to the British Mandate of Palestine via Youth Aliyah.Cite web|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3083822,00.html|title=Beit HaArava: Blooming in the salty earth|date=2005-05-13|accessdate=2008-05-16|publisher=Ynet he icon]

On 20 May 1948, after a failure to reach an agreement with Transjordan's King Abdullah, Beit HaArava and the nearby Kalia were abandoned due to their isolation during the fighting of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The residents of the villages evacuated to the Israeli post at Sodom.Cite book|title=Carta's Atlas of Israel - The First Years 1948-1961|editor=ed. Nur, Eviatar|year=1978|location=Jerusalem, Israel|publisher=Carta] Its members were later temporarily housed in kibbutz Shefayim, and ultimately split into two groups which in 1949 founded the kibbutzim of Gesher HaZiv and Kabri in the Western Galilee.

Beit HaArava was re-established in 1980 as a paramilitary Nahal outpost, and was fully turned over to civilians in 1996. In 2000 the village was moved 5 kilometres westwards. Today it is home to 40 families, 30 of which are kibbutz-members, and ten of which are organised as a communal settlement.

References