Beit Oren

Infobox_Kibbutz
kibbutz_name = Beit Oren
foundation = 1939
founded_by = Social youth movement members
region = Carmel
industry = Agriculture, tourism
affiliation = Kibbutz Movement
website =

Beit Oren ( _he. בֵּית אֹרֶן or Hebrew|בית אורן, "lit." House of Pinetree) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdication of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 320.

Geography

Kibbutz Beit Oren is located in the heart of Carmel mountain range, right next to the Carmel Nature Reserve national park, an area often called "little Switzerland".

History

A single Arabic house stood on the top of the hill in 1934. It was purchased, with the surrounding lands, and settled by a group of 15 Jewish workers. The site served as a watchi tower and camp. They intended to build a city and name it Yaarot HaCarmel, but during the Arab revolt in 1936, some of the workers were killed when the site was attacked.

Kibbutz Beit Oren was founded in 1939, by the Hebrew Socialist Adolescence movement, immigrants from Poland and Russia. Over time they were joined by other groups from Dror and Aliyat HaNoar, and a group from kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. The kibbutz was established as a Haganah as a Palmach base for undergraound activities against the British.

On 9 October 1945, a Palmach unit set out to free 208 illegal immigrants detained at the Atlit Detention camp. They overcame the guards, and the immigrants, together with their liberators, escaped to Kibbutz Beit Oren. The attack was the first anti-British action of the Palmach. [ [http://daat.ac.il/daat///english/history/lapidot/12.htm THE UNITED RESISTANCE by Yehuda Lapidot] ]

Beit Oren went practically bankrupt, leaving the senior members without any income or means of subsistence, lots of debts and commitments for which they had no way to cover. The kibbutz movement stopped financial support to the kibbutz, then in severe economic and social crisis, and suggested that veteran members leave. [ [http://www.communa.org.il/changkib.htm The Changing Kibbutz in a Changing World] ] [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=499087 Privatization brings crisis written by Eli Ashkenazi] ] The United Kibbutz Movement allowed a group of young individuals to change the kibbutz fundamentally. [ [http://econ.ucsd.edu/seminars/0405seminars/Abramitzky_WI05.pdf The Limits of Equality: An Economic Analysis of the Israeli Kibbutz written by Ran Abramitzky] ] In 1999, eight members of Beit Oren, applied to the High Court of Justice, to order the registrar of cooperative societies, to abolish the classification of Beit Oren as a kibbutz and classify it as a different kind of cooperative society. [ [http://www.soc-ec.org/textos/txe02.pdf The Renewing Kibbutz] ] It later underwent privatization, shifting from a kibbutz to a community village.

The kibbutz had a membership of about 200 families.

Economics

The kibbutz has a hotel and horse riding centre.

Attractions

Khirbet Oren (Shalale) is an ancient city in the center of Mount Carmel, on a steep hill overlooking Oren valley. There are few remains at the site indicating that the city flourished in Hellenistic and Roman times. There were Canaanite findings in the area (25th-10th C BC).

References