The Policies of Control in Israel

 In 1910, Degania Aleph was founded on the Sea of Galilee. The first Jewish socialist kibbutz and cooperative inside Palestine, Degania was succeeded by tens of agricultural and industrial kibbutzim. During the following decades, the kibbutz movement was the face of Zionism, showcasing the “new human being” it has birthed.  Much of the
2015-05-08

Nael Eltoukhy

Egyptian Novelist and Translator


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 In 1910, Degania Aleph was founded on the Sea of Galilee. The first Jewish socialist kibbutz and cooperative inside Palestine, Degania was succeeded by tens of agricultural and industrial kibbutzim. During the following decades, the kibbutz movement was the face of Zionism, showcasing the “new human being” it has birthed. 
Much of the worldwide enthusiasm that accompanied Israel’s creation was due to the admiration for the kibbutzim and the management of daily life inside them. Not only was the kibbutz a community settlement, it also created its particular concepts and new human being. In the kibbutz, all members ate, worked, washed their cloths and slept together and so did their children. 
There was no private property in kibbutzim as land was provided by the Jewish National Fund, responsible for buying Palestinian lands and setting them up for Jewish settlement. In the kibbutz, no-one was entitled to ownership over anything, including over children. Thus, the kibbutz movement has greatly contributed to the formation of the image of the Jewish-Israeli pioneer: the audacious, secular, confident young man who carries an axe with one hand and a gun in the other. 
This was a golden age for the kibbutz movement and subsequently for Zionism, but everything changed after the declaration of Israel’s establishment. New people settled in the country and built their own places. Soon economic crises ensued.

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