Bnei Atzmon ( he, בְּנֵי עַצְמוֹן) was an Israeli settlement previously in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

, later moved to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

before being destroyed in 2005.

History

Bnei Atzmon was founded in 1979 in the

Yamit Yamit ( he, ימית) was an Israeli settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula with a population of about 2,500 people. Yamit was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War until th ...

region of the Sinai Peninsula as a response to the Camp David Accords, which promoted trading territory for peace. In 1982, the settlement was relocated to the Gush Katif region of the Gaza Strip about three kilometres north of

Rafah Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...

after the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty and the subsequent eviction of all Jews living in Sinai and surrender of all land there. The settlement in Sinai was originally named Atzmona, but since that location was evacuated and Israeli law forbids renaming a new location with that of a previously existing legal entity, Bnei Atzmon (''Sons of Atzmon'' - named after the Biblical border point of Israel (Numbers 34:4-5)) became the officially registered name. Nonetheless, it is more often referred to as Atzmona. The moshav's mostly

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

was associated with the Amana settlement organization. It was destroyed in 2005 by the Israeli government as part of the

Israeli disengagement from Gaza The Israeli disengagement from Gaza ( he, תוכנית ההתנתקות, ') was the unilateral dismantling in 2005 of the 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Israeli settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip. T ...

Education

The Regional

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educ ...

School for nearby children was located in Bnei Atzmon, as well as the prestigious religious pre-army

Mechina A Mechina Kdam-Tzvait ( he, מכינה קדם צבאית; "pre-military preparatory", plural Mechinot) is an autonomous unit of specialized educational institutions valuing non-formal education and pre-military training in Israel. Funded and su ...

, ''Otzem'', with 150 students under the leadership of the Rabbi

Rafi Peretz Rafael "Rafi" Peretz (; born 7 January 1956) is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician. A former military officer and helicopter pilot who also served as the Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, he was the leader of the Jewi ...

. On the settlement was a branch of the

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. ...

Economy

Several local industries provided employment for residents areas including the "Atzmona nursery" for house plants, which was the second largest in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and a factory producing cleaning materials. In the cooperative settlement, there was area of more than 50,000 dunams (50 km²) of field crops in the

Besor The Besor ( he, נחל הבשור, ''Nahal HaBesor'') is a wadi in southern Israel. The stream begins at Mount Boker (near Sde Boker), and spills into the Mediterranean Sea near Al-Zahra in the Gaza Strip, where it is called Wadi Gaza ( ar, � ...

area, 12 dunams (12,000 m²) of

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

coops, a barn, and a building company.

Evacuation

It was home to about 90 families, including just under 600 people, at the time of its destruction as a result of

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan The Israeli disengagement from Gaza ( he, תוכנית ההתנתקות, ') was the unilateral dismantling in 2005 of the 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Israeli settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip. Th ...

on August 17, 2005. While some form of opposition had been expected from residents in this nationalistic settlement, the actual expulsion was carried out without active or even passive resistance. The pre-army preparatory program was also pulled without resistance, with the participation of several senior army officers who had been invited especially for this "pull-out."

References

External links

Aerial photo of Bnei Atzmon

{{Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Populated places established in 1979 Sinai Peninsula 1978 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate 2005 disestablishments in the Palestinian territories