Gezer 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 central Israel

Israel

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

. Located in the Shephelah

Shephelah

The Shephelah is a designation usually applied to the region in south-central Israel of 10-15 km of low hills between the central Mount Hebron and the coastal plains of Philistia within the area of the Judea, at an altitude of 120-450 metres above sea level. The area is fertile, and a temperate...

 between Modi'in, Ramle and Rehovot

Rehovot

Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council

Gezer Regional Council

Gezer Regional Council is a regional council in the Center District of Israel. Established in 1949, it had a population of 20,700 in 2006.-List of settlements:The council covers five kibbutzim, 15 moshavim and five communal settlementsKibbutzim...

. In 2006 it had a population of 353.

The kibbutz was established in 1945 by immigrants

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 from Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and was named after Tel Gezer

Gezer

Gezer was a Canaanite city-state and biblical town in ancient Israel. Tel Gezer , an archaeological site midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is now an Israeli national park....

, which is located nearby.

On 10 June 1948, the day after an attempt to take Latrun

Latrun

Latrun is a strategic hilltop in the Ayalon Valley in Israel overlooking the road to Jerusalem. It is located 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla.-Etymology:...

 performed by Yiftah and Harel brigades, a battalion-size force of the Arab Legion

Arab Legion

The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...

, supported by irregulars and a dozen of armored cars attacked the kibbutz. This was defended by 68 Haganah soldiers. After four hours of battle, the kibbutz fell. 39 defenders were killed, a dozen escaped, and the remaining were taken prisoner. Two Arab legionnars were killed. At the evening, the kibbutz abandoned to the irregulars was taken back by two Palmach

Palmach

The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...

squads.

After the war it was rebuilt, but came apart in 1964 due to social difficulties. The current kibbutz was founded in 1974 by a Gar'in from North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. The kibbutz holds one of Israel's only baseball fields.