Sufa ( he, סוּפָה, ''lit.'' Storm) is a
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
in southern
Israel. Located in the
Hevel Shalom
Hevel Shalom (, lit. ''Shalom region'') is an area in the western Negev desert close to Israel's border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai. This area was elected to be substitutive area for evacuees from Yamit.
Villages
Villages in Hevel Shalo ...
area of the north-western
Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of .
A border crossing between Israel and 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.. ...
named after the kibbutz is located nearby.
Kibbutz
The kibbutz was founded in 1982 by former residents of
Sufa, an
Israeli settlement
Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...
in
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
which was evacuated as part of the
Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. Its name is derived from the severe
dust storms which occurred in the original settlement. To the north of the kibbutz, where
Nirim was between the years 1946–1949, lies the memorial site "Dangur", commemorating the casualties of the
Egyptian attack on Nirim and a memorial for the eight fallen soldiers.
Border crossing
The Sufa border crossing was used by Palestinians working on Israeli farms. During the
Second Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
(2000–2005), the border crossing and the military base next to it were subject to several Palestinian attacks, and the crossing was intermittently closed.
In October 2007, the crossing was closed, leaving the
Kerem Shalom crossing as the only point of entry. In November, despite
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
objections saying it was harder to guard than Kerem Shalom, Deputy
Defense Minister Matan Vilnai decided to reopen the crossing.
It was then used to transfer humanitarian assistance to the Strip.
In May 2008, the crossing was once again closed following a mortar attack which wounded an IDF soldier.
A few days later, thousands of Palestinians protested the Israeli blockade. Six people were reported wounded by the IDF in that incident.
On June 1, about forty Israeli farmers protested at the crossing, in a bid to stop the transportation of goods into the Strip despite the ongoing
Qassam rocket barrages.
References
External links
Official website
Sufa
Negev Information Center
{{Authority control
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Populated places established in 1982
Israel–Gaza Strip border crossings
Populated places in Southern District (Israel)
1982 establishments in Israel