Nitzana ( he, נִצָּנָה, ניצנה) is an educational

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 ...

and

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 ...

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 in the western

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

desert, adjacent to 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 Medit ...

ian border, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Ramat HaNegev Regional Council Ramat HaNegev Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית רמת הנגב, ''Mo'atza Azorit Ramat HaNegev'', ''lit.'' Negev Heights Regional Council) is a regional council in the Negev desert in Israel. With around 8,000 residents spread across ...

. In it had a population of .

Ancient Nitzana (3rd c. BC-7th c. AD)

Ancient Nitzana was founded by the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern L ...

in the 3rd century BC. There are traces of a large first century BC building with a monumental staircase. The settlement was a trading post on the Eilat to Gaza route. In the early 2nd century AD the emperor Hadrian diverted this trade from Elat to Damascus. Despite this loss Nitzana grew under

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

rule. In the late 3rd century AD the fort was enlarged with stables for horses and camels. In the 4th century a church was built attached to the north end of the fort. It was dedicated to SS Sergius and Baccus. In the 7th century a second church, dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

was built 60m south east of the fort. Al Auja before 1956

The tax register for 587-9 AD indicates that the town had 1,500 inhabitants, with 116 houses. This was a time of prosperity with the route from Gaza to Elat reopened and pilgrim traffic to

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...

. A find of late Byzantine papyri has given much detail of the life of the town. Following the arrival of Islam the town went into a slow decline and by the 8th century it had ceased to exist.

Modern village

The modern village was founded in 1987 by Aryeh Eliav, a former member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

for several left-wing parties, and was named after the Nabatean city. It also gives its name to the

Nitzana Border Crossing The Nitzana Border Crossing ( ar, معبر نيتسانا, he, מעבר ניצנה) is an international border crossing between El Ouga and Nitzana, Israel. Opened in 1982, the crossing used to handle pedestrians as well as private cars but mo ...

, formerly Auja al-Hafir. It was the site of Operation Volcano in 1955, an Israeli raid against Egyptian positions. On 18 June 2012 an Israeli was killed in a terrorist attack near the village.Victim of Nitzana Attack Identified
Israel National News, 18 June 2012 Nitzana1

References

{{Authority control Community settlements Youth villages in Israel Populated places established in 1987 1987 establishments in Israel Populated places in Southern District (Israel)

Ancient Nitzana (3rd c. BC-7th c. AD)

Modern village

See also

References