Beit Kama is a kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 in the northern Negev

Negev

The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

 desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. It belongs to the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council

Bnei Shimon Regional Council

The Bnei Shimon Regional Council , is a regional council in the northern Negev in the south of Israel. Most of its territory lies north of Beersheba and the rest bounds Beersheba on the west and east sides as well. The eastern border of this territory straddles the Green Line.There are 13...

.

Background and Geography

Beit-Kama is a secular kibbutz that preserves the cooperative mode of life in most areas. It has been traditionally affiliated to the “Hakibbutz Ha’artzi” organization and the “Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...

” movement. It locates at a driving distance of 20 minutes from Beer-Sheva, approximately one hour from Tel-Aviv and similar time from Jerusalem. It is the location of "Nitzaney Hanegev" regional elementary school.

History

The kibbutz was founded on 18 April 1949 and was initially call Safiach . The founders of Beit Kama were immigrants from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 who belonged to Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...

movement.

Economy

Beit Kama own one of the largest agriculture cooperatives in Israel, called Shikma and shared with Kibutz Mishmar Hanegev, and a large dairy farming facilities. In the past the Kibutz owned a biomed company, today called Kamada, and nine chicken houses. Although these two branches still functioning within Beit Kama they are no longer operated by the cooperative. It has a gas station at its junction on the way to Beer-Sheva.