Beit HaArava
{{Short description|Israeli settlement in the West Bank}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox Kibbutz
|pushpin_map=Israel binyamin
|pushpin_mapsize = 250
|pushpin_label_position=top
|coordinates = {{coord|31|48|30|N|35|28|33|E|display=inline,title}}
|name= Beit HaArava
|image= BetHaarava2.jpg
|caption=
|imgsize= 200px
|hebname={{Script/Hebrew|בֵּית הָעֲרָבָה}}
|arname=
|stdHeb=
|altOffSp=
|altUnoSp=
|meaning= House of the Arava
|foundation= 1939 (original)
1980 (re-establishment)
|founded_by= Youth Aliyah members
| country =
|district= js
|council= Megilot
|affiliation=
| popyear = {{Israel populations|Year}}
| population = {{Israel populations|Bet Haarava}}
| population_footnotes={{Israel populations|reference}}
|area_dunam=
|website=
}}
Beit HaArava ({{langx|he|בֵּית הָעֲרָבָה|lit=House of the Arabah}}) is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz in the West Bank. Located near the Dead Sea and Jericho at the eponymous Beit HaArava Junction, the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 90, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megilot Regional Council. In {{Israel populations|Year}} it had a population of {{Israel populations|Bet Haarava}}.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1682640.stm |title=The Geneva Convention |publisher=BBC News |date=10 December 2009 |accessdate=27 November 2010 }}
History
The village was originally established in 1939 by European members of Zionist youth movements who had fled Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine via Youth Aliyah.{{cite news|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3083822,00.html|title=Beit HaArava: Blooming in the salty earth|date=2005-05-13|accessdate=2008-05-16|newspaper=Ynet|language=he}} David Coren, later a member of the Knesset, was also amongst the founders. It was named after the biblical village of the same name allocated to the tribe of Benjamin ({{bibleverse||Joshua|18:22|NKJV}}), located in the Arabah plain, and means "House in the Desert".{{cite book | title=Jewish Villages in Israel | author=Jewish National Fund | year=1949 | publisher=Hamadpis Liphshitz Press | location=Jerusalem | page=18}} According to the Jewish National Fund, the Kibbutz became famous for its experiments in land reclamation, the residents reclaiming land that had never been previously cultivated. Kibbutz-movement historian Zvi Dror published a history of the founding of Beit HaArava in 1994, entitled ''Shutfut Bema'aseh Habria (literally, "Participating in the Act of Creation").{{cite news |last1=Shapiro |first1=Sraya |title=THE MEN WHO DARED: SETTLERS OF BEIT HA'ARAVA (book review)|publisher=Jerusalem Post |date=13 March 1994}}
In 1947, Beit HaArava had a population of over 200. On 20 May 1948, after a failure to reach an agreement with Transjordan's King Abdullah, Beit HaArava and the nearby Kalya were abandoned due to their isolation during the fighting of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The residents of the villages evacuated to the Israeli post at Sodom.{{Cite book|title=Carta's Atlas of Israel - The First Years 1948-1961|editor=Nur, Eviatar|year=1978|location=Jerusalem, Israel|publisher=Carta}} Its members were later temporarily housed in kibbutz Shefayim, and ultimately split into two groups which in 1949 founded the kibbutzim of Gesher HaZiv and Kabri in the Western Galilee.
According to ARIJ, in 1980 Israel expropriated 506 dunams of land from the Palestinian site of Nabi Musa in order to expand construction at Beit HaArava.[https://web.archive.org/web/20171113113352/http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/vprofile/An_Nabi_Musa_FINAL.pdf An Nabi Musa Locality Profile], ARIJ, p. 7
In 1980, Beit HaArava was re-established as a Nahal outpost. It became a civilian community in 1986. In 2000, the site of village moved 2 kilometres westwards. Today Beit HaArava has 70 families, 30 of them members of the kibbutz, numbering approximately 400 people, with an increase of 36,5% in 2019 being the fastest growing municipality in the whole of Israel.israel today, April 2020, p.42
Economy
The world's largest operating solar pond for electricity generation was the Beit HaArava pond, which was operated until 1988. The pond had an area of 210,000 m² or 40,000 m²{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsnVDAAAQBAJ&dq=Beit+HaArava+pond&pg=PA255 | title=RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS AND DESALINATION - Volume II | date=19 September 2010 | publisher=EOLSS Publications | isbn=9781848264304 }} When using a pond of surface area of 1.5 km² this would have generated 5 MWe.{{Cite journal |last1=Haj Khalil |first1=R. A. |last2=Jubran |first2=B. A. |last3=Faqir |first3=N. M. |date=1997 |title=Optimization of solar pond electrical power generation system |journal=Energy Conversion and Management |volume=38 |issue=8 |pages=787–798 |doi=10.1016/S0196-8904(96)00086-6}}
References
{{Commons category|Beit Ha'arava}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Jewish villages depopulated during the Israeli War of Independence}}
{{Megilot}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Community settlements
Category:Israeli settlements in the West Bank
Category:Populated places established in 1939
Category:Populated places established in 1980
Category:Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine
Category:Jewish villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Category:Non-religious Israeli settlements
Category:1939 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Category:1980 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate