Mitzpe Shalem ( he, מִצְפֵּה שָׁלֵם, , Shalem Lookout) is 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 ...

and former

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 the eastern

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Located near Highway 90 about north of

Ein Gedi Ein Gedi ( he, עֵין גֶּדִי‎, ), also spelled En Gedi, meaning "spring of the goat, kid", is an oasis, an Archaeological site, archeological site and a nature reserve in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qu ...

and north of the Green Line about 1 km from the western shores of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Ban ...

, it is the southernmost community under the jurisdiction of

Megilot Regional Council Megilot Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית מגילות, ''Mo'atza Azorit Megilot''), also Megilot Dead Sea Regional Council, is a regional council in the Judean Desert of the West Bank, near the western shores of the Dead Sea. It cov ...

. In it had a population of . It was established in 1970 on land belonging to the Palestinian Bedouin village of ‘Ayn Trayba. The

international community The international community is an imprecise phrase used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. As a rhetorical term Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is t ...

considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

The community was founded in 1970 as a

Nahal settlement Nahal settlements ( he, היאחזות נח"ל, ''Heahzut Nahal'') were settlements established by Nahal soldiers in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories. Supporting Jewish settlement growth and expansion throughout Israel was once the main f ...

on land in the

that Israel occupied in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

. It was inhabited as a kibbutz in the Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim in 1976. Today it has undergone privatization and is considered a cooperative community, thus no longer belonging to the

Kibbutz Movement The Kibbutz Movement ( he, התנועה הקיבוצית, ''HaTnu'a HaKibbutzit'') is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi and is made ...

. It was named after

Natan Shalem Natan Shalem (October 10, 1897 - 1959) was an Israeli geographer, geologist and researcher. Biography Shalem was born in Thessaloniki to a traditional Jewish family. Growing up Shalem studied in various Jewish educational institutes. In 1914 S ...

who investigated the

Judean Desert The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert ( he, מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה, Midbar Yehuda}, both ''Desert of Judah'' or ''Judaean Desert''; ar, صحراء يهودا, Sahraa' Yahuda) is a desert in Palestine and Israel that lies east of Jerusa ...

, where the kibbutz is located.Dead Sea Kibbutzim: Who lives at the Dead Sea?
Dead Sea

Economy

The economy of the kibbutz depends on agriculture, tourism and industry. In agriculture, the kibbutz has an orchard of palm trees with an area of about 400 dunams and a coop for raising turkeys. Tourism used to include the Mineral Beach on the Dead Sea, with its sulfur-enhanced baths, and an organized swimming beach, now closed due to damage caused by

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s; and a motel named for the nearby Deragot Cliffs. The industry is derived from the manufacture of Ahava Skin Care products in the local company'
laboratories
In September 2016 Ahava was sold to a Chinese conglomerate, but was not relocated and still offers working places to the community. Ahava manufactures cosmetics based on minerals from the Dead Sea. A factory for refining these chemicals is located in the kibbutz. In 2009 a boycott campaign targeted the company for its activities in the

. Protests were held in cosmetics stores in Israel and the United States. The Israeli human rights group

B'tselem B'Tselem ( he, בצלם, , " in the image of od) is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of su ...

has said that exploitation of resources of occupied territory is prohibited by international law and has called on the Israeli government to end such practices.

References

External links

{{Megilot Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1970 Israeli settlements in the West Bank Nahal settlements 1970 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate