Nahal Oz 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 southern 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 northwestern part of the 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 close to the border with the Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

 and near the development town

Development town

Development town is a term used to refer to the new settlements that were built in Israel during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing to a large influx of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Holocaust survivors from Europe and new immigrants , who arrived to the newly established State...

s of Sderot

Sderot

Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...

 and Netivot

Netivot

Netivot is a city in the Southern District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 26,700. It was founded in 1956 as a development town along with Sderot to the north, and Ofakim to the south...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council

Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council

The Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council , is a regional council in the north-western Negev, in Israel's Southern District. The Regional Council's territory lies midway between Beersheba and Ashkelon, bounded on the west by the Gaza Strip. The eastern border abuts Bnei Shimon...

. In 2006 it had a population of 290.

History

The kibbutz was founded in 1951 as the country's first Nahal settlement

Nahal settlement

Nahal settlements were settlements established by Nahal soldiers in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories. Supporting Jewish settlement growth and expansion throughout Israel was once the main focus of the Nahal military brigade. The goal for every Nahal settlement was to become a civilian...

. It was initially referred to as Nahlayim Mul Aza . In 1953 it became a civilian community.

Nahal Oz came to national attention in April 1956 when it was ambushed by Egyptian soldiers who killed kibbutz resident Ro'i Rutenberg. Rutenberg's funeral was attended by Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...

, then Chief of Staff

Ramatkal

The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf , which is usually...

, who gave a widely acclaimed eulogy which called upon Israel to search its soul and probe the national mindset.After the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli novelist David Grossman

David Grossman

David Grossman is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and have won numerous prizes.He is also a noted activist and critic of Israeli policy toward Palestinians. The Yellow Wind, his non-fiction study of the life of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied...

, who lost his son in the war, delivered a eulogy that was widely compared to Dayan's eulogy for Rutenberg.

Privatization of the kibbutz began in 1997.

Economy

The kibbutz's agriculture is based on crop growing

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

, a dairy and chickens. It also has a factory ("Ozat") for producing nuts and bolts, as well as a high-tech firm.

External links

• Nahal Oz Negev Information Centre