Negba

Kibbutz Negba was founded on 12 July 1939 as part of the tower and stockade enterprise. The first settlers were members of Hashomer Hatzair from Poland. It was the southernmost Jewish settlement in Mandatory Palestine.

{{main|Battles of Negba}}

In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Israeli military engaged in many battles with Egypt. When the Egyptians invaded on 15 May 1948, their forces advanced and captured the police station, Iraq-Suweidan, a Tegart fort named after the nearby Arab village, that controlled the route to the Negev. Aside from the police station, the Egyptians seized Arab villages near the kibbutz, from which they attacked Jewish vehicles travelling on the roads from Ashkelon to Hebron and Jerusalem.

The kibbutz was destroyed in the heavy fighting which went on for three months. On 9 November 1948, after the defeat of the Egyptian army in Operation Yoav, the police station was captured by the Israel Defense Forces.

A memorial to the fallen soldiers was constructed next to the military cemetery: a man and a woman from the kibbutz with a fighting soldier. Next to the memorial statue stands an Egyptian tank. The kibbutz water tower, pockmarked with bullet holes, is a testimony to the fierce battle.

File:נגבה - העליה לנגבה-JNF026081.jpeg|Negba foundation 1939

File:Negba-homa-u-migdal.jpg|Tower and stockade replica

File:מראה כללי של נגבה בחוף הנגב-JNF002733.jpeg|Negba 1942

Image:Metzudat-Yoav001.jpg|"Meztudat Yoav", the former Iraq Suweidan police station

File:Rapoport negba.jpg|Nathan Rapoport, memorial to the participants in the 1948 battles

The kibbutz economy is based on poultry, cattle, orchards, vegetables and two factories. It also has a history museum featuring a reconstructed model of the tower and stockade settlements. Negba, along with Sde Yoav, operate Hamei Yoav, a spa with hot springs and thermo-mineral baths.[http://www.hamei-yoav.co.il/html/1odot/e-odot.html Hamei Yoav] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122184501/http://www.hamei-yoav.co.il/html/1odot/e-odot.html |date=2009-11-22 }}

Under a new financial arrangement, members who left the kibbutz are able to return as "economically independent members." They live in residences registered in their own name and are partners with equal rights and obligations in the communal element of the kibbutz (education, culture, welfare and infrastructure) but not in the productive assets (agriculture, industrial enterprises and shares in the dairy cooperative Tnuva).[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/851477.html Less equality, more freedom and Kibbutz Negba's prodigal sons return] Haaretz

{{Weather box

|location= Negba (Temperature: 1995–2010, Precipitation: 1980-2010)

|metric first= yes

|single line= yes

|Jan record high C= 33.0

|Feb record high C= 32.4

|Mar record high C= 37.7

|Apr record high C= 42.0

|May record high C= 46.5

|Jun record high C= 42.0

|Jul record high C= 38.4

|Aug record high C= 39.0

|Sep record high C= 42.4

|Oct record high C= 41.6

|Nov record high C= 36.0

|Dec record high C= 33.0

|Jan high C= 17.6

|Feb high C= 18.2

|Mar high C= 20.7

|Apr high C= 24.6

|May high C= 27.8

|Jun high C= 30.0

|Jul high C= 31.7

|Aug high C= 31.9

|Sep high C= 30.8

|Oct high C= 28.1

|Nov high C= 24.3

|Dec high C= 19.9

|year high C=

|Jan mean C= 12.9

|Feb mean C= 13.3

|Mar mean C= 15.3

|Apr mean C= 18.4

|May mean C= 21.5

|Jun mean C= 24.3

|Jul mean C= 26.5

|Aug mean C= 26.9

|Sep mean C= 25.7

|Oct mean C= 23.0

|Nov mean C= 18.9

|Dec mean C= 15.0

|year mean C=

|Jan low C= 8.3

|Feb low C= 8.3

|Mar low C= 9.9

|Apr low C= 12.3

|May low C= 15.2

|Jun low C= 18.6

|Jul low C= 21.3

|Aug low C= 22.0

|Sep low C= 20.6

|Oct low C= 17.9

|Nov low C= 13.5

|Dec low C= 12.1

|year low C=

|Jan record low C= -2.5

|Feb record low C= -1.5

|Mar record low C= 0

|Apr record low C= 2.5

|May record low C= 6.0

|Jun record low C= 11.5

|Jul record low C= 15.0

|Aug record low C= 14.0

|Sep record low C= 12.8

|Oct record low C= 9.0

|Nov record low C= 1.0

|Dec record low C= -2.6

|Jan rain mm= 119

|Feb rain mm= 105

|Mar rain mm= 55

|Apr rain mm= 11

|May rain mm= 3.2

|Jun rain mm= 0

|Jul rain mm= 0

|Aug rain mm= 0

|Sep rain mm= 2.3

|Oct rain mm= 26

|Nov rain mm= 66

|Dec rain mm= 103

|unit rain days=0.1 mm

|Jan rain days= 11

|Feb rain days= 10

|Mar rain days= 7

|Apr rain days= 2

|May rain days= 0.7

|Jun rain days= 0.1

|Jul rain days= 0

|Aug rain days= 0

|Sep rain days= 0.2

|Oct rain days= 3

|Nov rain days= 6

|Dec rain days= 9

|source 1= Israel Meteorological Service{{cite web|url=http://www.ims.gov.il/IMS/CLIMATE/ClimaticAtlas/TempNormals.htm|title=Temperature average|publisher=Israel Meteorological Service |access-date=1 December 2011}}{{in lang|he}}{{cite web

|url= http://www.ims.gov.il/IMS/CLIMATE/ClimaticAtlas/RainNormals.htm |title=Precipitation average| access-date= 12 July 2011}}{{in lang|he}}

}}

• Yossi Peled (born 1941), Israeli general and politician
• Anat Maor (born 1945), Israeli politician
• Avshalom Vilan (born 1951), Israeli politician and economist

{{reflist}}

• [http://negba.org.il/ Official website] {{in lang|he}}

{{Jewish villages depopulated during the Israeli War of Independence}}

{{Yoav}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Kibbutzim

Category:Kibbutz Movement

Category:Populated places established in 1939

Category:1939 establishments in Mandatory Palestine

Category:Populated places in Southern District (Israel)