Mitzpe Shalem

Mitzpe Shalem
Mitzpe Shalem
Coordinates: 31°34′6.24″N 35°24′3.24″E / 31.5684000°N 35.4009000°ECoordinates: 31°34′6.24″N 35°24′3.24″E / 31.5684000°N 35.4009000°E
Region	Dead Sea
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1970
Founded by	Nahal

Mitzpe Shalem (Hebrew: מִצְפֵּה שָׁלֵם, lit. Shalem Lookout) is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz located about 1 km from the western shores of the Dead Sea in the eastern West Bank. It is the southernmost community in the Megilot Regional Council and is located near Highway 90 about 21 kilometres (13 mi) north of Ein Gedi and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Green Line.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.^[1]

History

The community was founded in 1970 as a Nahal settlement on land in the West Bank that Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War. It was inhabited as a kibbutz in the Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim in 1976.

Today it is a "renewed kibbutz" having undergone privatization and is considered a cooperative community, thus no longer belonging to the Kibbutz Movement. It was named after Natan Shalem who investigated the Judean Desert, where the kibbutz is located. As of 2007, the population is about 200 people, of which 59 are official members. Approximately 90 percent of the population, aging from infancy to 50, speaks English.

Economy

The economy of the kibbutz depends on agriculture, tourism and industry. In agriculture, the kibbutz has an orchard of palm trees with an area of about 400 dunams and a coop for raising turkeys. Tourism includes the Mineral Beach of the Dead Sea, with its sulfur-enhanced baths, and an organized swimming beach, and a motel named for the nearby Deragot Cliffs. Industry is derived from the manufacture of Ahava Skin Care products in the local company's laboratories.

Ahava manufactures cosmetics based on minerals from the Dead Sea. A factory for refining these chemicals is located in the kibbutz. In 2009 a boycott campaign targeted the company for its activities in the West Bank. Protests were held in cosmetics stores in Israel and the United States.^[2] The Israeli human rights group B'tselem has said that exploitation of resources of occupied territory is prohibited by international law and has called on the Israeli government to end such practices.^[3]

References

1. "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
2. Shalev, Anat (2009-07-30). "Code Pink protest calls for Ahava boycott". Ynet. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
3. "Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley and Northern Dead Sea". B'Tselem. Retrieved 15 April 2012.

External links

• Mitzpe Shalem page at Jewish Agency for Israel website