Magen
מָגֵן | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 31°17′59″N 34°25′37″E / 31.29972°N 34.42694°E | |
Country | Israel |
District | Southern |
Council | Eshkol |
Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
Founded | 16 August 1949 |
Founded by | Romanian Jews |
Population (2022)
[1] | 540 |
Website | www.magen.org.il |
Magen ( Hebrew: מָגֵן, lit. 'Shield') is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert and covering 8,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 540. [1]
During
World War I British forces established an air base at the village site after the withdrawal of the Turks.
[2] The kibbutz was established by
immigrants from
Romania on 16 August 1949 on orchards that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian hamlets of
Ma'in Abu Sitta,
Abu Tailakh and
Abu Nuqeira, whose inhabitants had been driven out during
Operation Assaf and forced to flee to the
Gaza Strip. The area containing the villages was to be included as part of the Arab state in the
United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine but was under Israeli control at the end of the war, with the government forbidding the Palestinian residents from returning.
[3]
[4] The site also contains the remains of the
maqam of Sheikh Nuran, either the site of the biblical town of Bethul (Joshua 19:4)
[5] or the site of a fourth-century
Byzantine monastery.
[6]
The swimming pool at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, at which the Israeli 4×100 meters medley relay squad made the finals, was heated by solar panels manufactured by the kibbutz. [7]
During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Magen was one of the Israeli villages that was attacked, but its civil defense team managed to fight off the attackers. [8] Israeli forces counterattacked with tanks the following day, successfully eliminating the remaining Hamas assailants in the vicinity of the kibbutz. [9]
A church complex consisting of four buildings was discovered at kibbutz Magen which sheds light on features of church construction during the Byzantine period. [10] [11] It was a basilica dedicated to St. Elias. [11] Mosaics, inscriptions, glass, pottery and several coins were unearthed in these excavations. [10] [11]
Magen
מָגֵן | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 31°17′59″N 34°25′37″E / 31.29972°N 34.42694°E | |
Country | Israel |
District | Southern |
Council | Eshkol |
Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
Founded | 16 August 1949 |
Founded by | Romanian Jews |
Population (2022)
[1] | 540 |
Website | www.magen.org.il |
Magen ( Hebrew: מָגֵן, lit. 'Shield') is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert and covering 8,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 540. [1]
During
World War I British forces established an air base at the village site after the withdrawal of the Turks.
[2] The kibbutz was established by
immigrants from
Romania on 16 August 1949 on orchards that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian hamlets of
Ma'in Abu Sitta,
Abu Tailakh and
Abu Nuqeira, whose inhabitants had been driven out during
Operation Assaf and forced to flee to the
Gaza Strip. The area containing the villages was to be included as part of the Arab state in the
United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine but was under Israeli control at the end of the war, with the government forbidding the Palestinian residents from returning.
[3]
[4] The site also contains the remains of the
maqam of Sheikh Nuran, either the site of the biblical town of Bethul (Joshua 19:4)
[5] or the site of a fourth-century
Byzantine monastery.
[6]
The swimming pool at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, at which the Israeli 4×100 meters medley relay squad made the finals, was heated by solar panels manufactured by the kibbutz. [7]
During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Magen was one of the Israeli villages that was attacked, but its civil defense team managed to fight off the attackers. [8] Israeli forces counterattacked with tanks the following day, successfully eliminating the remaining Hamas assailants in the vicinity of the kibbutz. [9]
A church complex consisting of four buildings was discovered at kibbutz Magen which sheds light on features of church construction during the Byzantine period. [10] [11] It was a basilica dedicated to St. Elias. [11] Mosaics, inscriptions, glass, pottery and several coins were unearthed in these excavations. [10] [11]