Negba

History

Foundation

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.

Battle for Negba, 1948

Main article: 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.

Gallery

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

Economy

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.

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).

Geography

Climate

|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 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

Notable residents

• Giora Epstein (20 May 1938 – 19 July 2025), Israeli Air Force (IAF) officer and fighter ace
• Yossi Peled (born 1941), Israeli general and politician
• Anat Maor (born 1945), Israeli politician
• Avshalom Vilan (born 1951), Israeli politician and economist

References

References

1. [http://www.hamei-yoav.co.il/html/1odot/e-odot.html Hamei Yoav] {{webarchive. link. (2009-11-22)
2. [https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/851477.html Less equality, more freedom and Kibbutz Negba's prodigal sons return] Haaretz
3. "Temperature average". Israel Meteorological Service.