Nitzanim ( he, נִצָּנִים, ''lit.'' Flower buds) 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 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 ...

. Located between

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

and Ashdod on the Nitzanim dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council Hof Ashkelon Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית חוף אשקלון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Hof Ashkelon'', ''lit.'' Ashkelon Coast Regional Council) is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel. The council is bordered to the n ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Nitzanim was established on 8 December 1943 on a 400-acre plot of land purchased by the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

in 1942. On the grounds was a large building that became known as the "mansion." The first residents were new immigrants, some of them

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

. The kibbutz was bombarded and captured by the

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian army during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

in the

Battle of Nitzanim The Battle of Nitzanim was a battle fought between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, on June 7, 1948 (29 Iyar, 5708 in the Hebrew calendar). It was the first major Egyptian victory of the war, and one ...

. Of Nitzanim's 141 members, 37 were killed and many were taken prisoner. Following the war, the kibbutz was moved four kilometres south of the original location,Historical sites in Nitzan
Israel Inside Out onto the land of the newly depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village of

Hamama Hamama ( ar, حمامة; also known in Byzantine times as ''Peleia'') was a Palestinian town of over 5,000 inhabitants that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was located 24 kilometers north of Gaza; its ruins are today in the ...

. The original site of the kibbutz became Nitzanim Youth Village in 1949. After the

youth village A youth village ( he, כפר נוער, ''Kfar No'ar'') is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pionee ...

closed in 1990, the

community settlement A community settlement ( he, יישוב קהילתי, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of village in Israel and the West Bank. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the village's residents are organized in ...

Nitzan Nitzan ( he, ניצן, lit. ''Flower bud'') is a religiously observant community settlement in southern Israel. Located within the Nitzanim Sand Dune Reserve north of Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. ...

was founded there. File:ניצנים - נחלת ס.זלצמן, דונידין, זילנד החדשה 100 דונם-JNF040431.jpeg, Nitzanim 1945 File:ניצנים - עבודה בחריש.-JNF045691.jpeg, Nitzanim ploughing 1945 File:ניצנים - מראה כללי.-JNF045230.jpeg, Nitzanim 1947 File:Nitzanim bombarded.jpg, Homes in Nitzanim destroyed in the Arab–Israeli War

References

External links

Official website
the battle of nitzanim, exhibition in the Idf& defense establishment archives
{{Jewish_villages_depopulated_during_the_Israeli War of Independence Kibbutzim
Populated places established in 1943 Jewish villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1943 establishments in Mandatory Palestine

History

See also

References

External links