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ABSTRACT
The article examines the changing relationship Kibbutz Ein Gedi has developed with its environment over a period of more than 60 years. It focuses on two interrelated themes: the considerations that influenced decisions on how best to use the land around the kibbutz, the freshwater at its disposal and the labor of its members; and the community’s changing self-image and “environmental imaginary.” Initially, the space in which the community lived was shaped by agriculture and a pioneering ethos. Then, because of the growth of consumerism and the development of tourism, Ein Gedi began to brand itself as a unique holiday destination. However, since the 1990s, the fast-retreating Dead Sea shoreline and the appearance of sinkholes have reshaped Ein Gedi’s environmental imaginary and altered its decision-making priorities.
Acknowledgments
This research was generously supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. I am very grateful to the members of Ein Gedi who agreed to be interviewed for this article and to the Kibbutz archivist, Rina Yaaran, for her generous assistance. I would also like to thank Netta Cohen and Shlomo Getz who provided valuable feedback on early drafts.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Hirschfeld, Ein Gedi, 7; Hadas, “Ancient agricultural irrigation,” 75–81. Thus far, research on Ein Gedi has largely been restricted to archeological studies of ancient settlements in the area and to scientific examinations of the region’s sinkholes and sedimentary record. See, for instance: Hadas, “Where was the harbor of Ein Gedi,” 45–49; Migowski et al., “Holocene climate variability,” 421–31.
2. Cited in: Goren, Dead Sea Level, 139.
3. Wilson, The Land of Judea, 142.
4. Lewinsky, Masa le-Eretz Yisrael, 44.
5. The lyrics were written by Eitan Peretz. The kibbutz bulletin, Afik, published the words of the song and the story of its authors on July 17, 1959 [all Afik references are in Hebrew].
6. Davis, “Imperialism, orientalism, and the environment,” 3.
7. See, for instance: Mitchell, “Afterword,” 265–74; Sutter, “The Tropics,” 178–206; Lawhon, Pierce and Bouwer, “Scale and the construction,” 1–21.
8. For work on ideology and land-use change in other geopolitical contexts, see: Peterson, Pipe Dreams. Local studies include: Cohen, The Politics of Planting; El-Eini, Mandated Landscape.
9. Micklin, “The Aral Sea disaster,” 47–72; Ženko and Uležić, “The unequal vulnerability,” 167–83.
10. See, for instance: Arkin and Gilat, “Dead Sea sinkholes,” 711–22; Ezersky et al., “Geophysical prediction,” 1463–1478; Taqieddin, Abderahman and Atallah, “Sinkhole hazards,” 1237–1253; Royal HaskoningDHV and EcoPeace Middle East. “National Master Plan for the Jordan Valley.”
11. Ben-Dror, “The Armistice Talks,” 887.
12. Recorded testimony of Shmarya Guttman, undated, Ein Gedi Archives [hereafter EGA]; “Kta’im mi-teur kibbush Ein Gedi” [Selection from the description of the conquest of Ein Gedi], Afik, May 14, 1967; Navon, Mivtza Lot, 48.
13. Eli Meislish’s testimony, “al Ein Gedi be-shnat 1951” [On Ein Gedi in 1951], [no date], EGA.
14. Kreiger, The Dead Sea, 173; Hadash, Ein Gedi: Yoman shlihut, 23–25.
15. Almog to Weitz, November 13, 1951, Central Zionist Archives [hereafter CZA], KKL5/20276.
16. In practice, many NAHAL settlers did not stay on in the settlements they established once their military service was over.
17. NAHAL Command HQ, “Kovetz Ein Gedi le-yom aliyat heahzut ha-NAHAL 5” [Ein Gedi file for the founding day of NAHAL settlement 5], February 26, 1953, EGA.
18. For more on NAHAL in the 1950s, see: Kemp, “Medabrim gvulot,” 70–95.
19. Tager to Bakstansky, February 16, 1954, CZA, KH4/12391. More than other NAHAL settlements, this new frontier stronghold in the desert captured the imagination of funders from Britain. They raised considerable sums of money for Ein Gedi.
20. Alexander and Dunkel, “Local malaria elimination.”
21. Almog to Weitz, May 15, 1953, CZA, KKL5/20276.
22. The author’s interview with Arie and Dalia Shahal, Ein Gedi, December 13, 2019; testimony of Amos Ganor, no date, EGA.
23. Weitz to Kahanovitch, April 28, 1955, CZA, KKL5/21945; Weitz to Ben Porath, March 2, 1956, CZA, KKL5/23554; Afik, January 15, 2016, 9–10; The author’s interview with Arie and Dalia Shahal, Ein Gedi, December 13, 2019.
24. Palgi and Getz, “Varieties in developing sustainability,” 38–9.
25. “Bereshit” [In the beginning], Tzionay derekh [marks along the road], January 10, 1956, EGA.
26. Tal, “Enduring technological optimism,” 283.
27. “Kav ha-mayim [The water line],” Afik, August 29, 1958; Afik, December 26, 1958.
28. Davis, “Restoring Roman nature,” 64.
29. Arieijeh was the transliteration used by Claude Conder in 1875 during the PEF survey of Palestine. See: Palestine Exploration Fund Archives, M/WS/155/2.
30. The map showing the new Hebrew names of the valleys west of the Dead Sea was published by the Governmental Names Committee on April 4, 1959 and was included in the April 27, 1959 issue of Afik. For more on the national effort to give Hebrew names to geographic features in Israel, see: Benvenisti, “Ha-mapa ha-ivrit,” 7–29.
31. In 1960 and 1961 kibbutz members still used the Arabic name Sdeir occasionally, but eventually the new designations caught on. Cfr: Afik, March 11, 1960; Afik, September 6, 1961; Afik, November 17, 1961.
32. Ron, Dvarim sh-eainam, 11.
33. Testimony of Amos Ganor, no date, EGA.
34. The author’s interview with Ruti Ron, Ein Gedi, December 12, 2019.
35. Ron, Dvarim sh-eainam, 19.
36. Tal, “To make a desert bloom,” 235–6.
37. “800 dunam yuhsheru be-Ein Gedi” [800 dunams to be prepared in Ein Gedi], La-merhav, January 11, 1957, 9.
38. “The history of the water of the Jordan Valley,” Jordan Valley Water Association, https://www.jvwa.co.il/. Accessed February 20, 2023.
39. NAHAL Command HQ, “Kovetz Ein Gedi,” 8.
40. Dan Bnayahu, “Tahshiv hashvaati byin karka tova ve-avanim be-Ein Gedi” [Comparative analysis between good soil and rocky soil in Ein Gedi], April 13, 1967, EGA, box A-16; the author’s interview with Arie and Dalia Shahal, Ein Gedi, December 13, 2019.
41. Ezra Henkin to Ein Gedi, December 24, 1964, EGA, box A-16.
42. Bnayahu to Eshel (Agricultural Ministry), July 13, 1967, EGA, box A-16.
43. Henkin to Ein Gedi, December 24, 1964; “Hatza’a le-yetzirat karka le-giduley yetzu” [Proposal for the creation of soil for export corps], January 10, 1967; Bnayahu to Eshel, July 13, 1967, EGA, A-16.
44. Blass, Mei meriva, 342–44; recorded conversation between Bnayahu and Y. Blass, Ein Gedi, 23 November 2011, Ein Gedi Archives website:http://www.eingedi.co.il/viewpage.asp?pagesCatID=2540&siteName=eingedi. Accessed February 20, 2023.
45. “Alon meyuhad li-khvod kenes shdamot” [special newsletter in honor of the Shdamot conference], Afik, July 4, 1975.
46. “Be-ad o neged pitoah ha-margoa ba-ezor” [for and against developing leisure in the area], Afik, September 8, 1956.
47. Afik, 11 September 1959; October 20, 1959; Levitt, Ahuv libainu: Uri Levitt, 13–4.
48. “Beit haaraha Ein Gedi – skira ve-tokhnit le-harhava” [Ein Gedi guesthouse – overview and expansion plan] December 22, 1962, EGA, box A-22: Beit Havraa 1959–1971. For more on the guesthouse experience in the 1960s, see: “Beit haaraha Ein Gedi” [Ein Gedi guesthouse], Davar, June 23, 1967, 28.
49. Nir Hasson, “40 shana le-kvish Yam Ha-Melah, ve-hateva meayem le-haslu” [40 years to the Dead Sea road, and nature threatens to destroy it], Haaretz, April 10, 2015, https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1198422. Accessed February 20, 2023.
50. Hasson, “Dmut ha-aretz be’atid,” 82; Efrat, “National land,” 171.
51. Cfr. Afik, August 8, 1960; Afik, October 27, 1972.
52. Afik, June 1, 1973; “Yerida be-mehirey ha-yerakot” [Drop in vegetable prices], Davar, April 1, 1974, 4.
53. Afik, October 3, 1972; Afik, October 27, 1972; August 3, 1973.
54. “10 million L.I. hushke’u be-hakamat henyon Ein Gedi” [10 million Israeli Liras invested in constructing a campsite in Ein Gedi], Davar, 12 December 1977, 4.
55. Afik, November 1, 1974.
56. Meshulam Ad, “Hag ha-20 le-Ein Gedi” [Ein Gedi’s 20th anniversary], Davar, March 5, 1976, 17.
57. Afik, July 4, 1975.
58. “Tokhnit homesh le-pitoah ha-tashtit le-tayarut be-ezor Yam Ha-Melah” [Five-year plan to develop tourism infrastructure in the Dead Sea area], Maariv, February 12, 1981, 4; summary by Amos Ganor, April 2, 1982, EGA, Assembly Protocols.
59. Report on sales by Moshe Shamir and Gady Hofesh, October 24, 1983, EGA, file: “Beit haaraha: pirsum meyda ve-hodaot, 1970–1986” [guesthouse publicity, information and notifications 1970–1986].
60. “Ba-hodesh ha-ba yehanekh ha-mivneh ha-hadash shel chamey Ein Gedi” [Next month the new Ein Gedi spa building will be inaugurated], Maariv, February 8, 1984, 31; Schein and Gavish, “Briut ve-yofi” [Health and beauty], 86–128. The new building replaced the rudimentary spa that was established in the 1960s, after a dispute between the kibbutz and various state institutions about the right to use the hot springs had been settled.
61. Afik, March 16, 1973.
62. Schein and Gavish, 118–20.
63. Gan, “From ‘we’ to ‘me,’” 33–46.
64. Afik, April 17, 1959.
65. Afik, Hanukah issue, December 1960.
66. Meni Gal, “Gan botani be-lev midbar” [A botanical garden in the heart of the desert], Kibbutz Ein Gedi website, http://www.eingedi.co.il/viewpage.asp?pagesCatID=3386&siteName=eingedi. Accessed February 2023; Eli Ron, Nitza Hofesh, and Anat Raz, Summary of the history of the planning of the botanical garden in Ein Gedi, [no date], EGA.
67. “Li-krat aseifa” [Ahead of the assembly], December 4, 1992, EGA, Assembly Protocols.
68. Lapidot, Applebaum, and Yehudai, “The Kibbutz,” 7–27.
69. Copy of Agreement between Leumi Bank and Ein Gedi, 24 June 1998, EGA, Assembly Protocols.
70. Schein and Gavish, 126.
71. For an overview of responses in various kibbutzim to the socio-economic crisis, see: Palgi and Getz, “Varieties in developing sustainability,” 38–47.
72. Amiel (Weizmann Institute) to Atzmon (Development Ministry), November 6, 1955, Israel State Archives (ISA), P-1900/27.
73. Zahavi to Almog, January 22, 1956, ISA, P-1900/27. Ein Gedi Spring (Ma’ayan Ein Gedi) emerges from a hill overlooking the oasis. Water was originally drawn from several meters downhill, allowing lush vegetation to grow around it. However, by 1963, thousands of visitors per year were frequenting the oasis. As a result, the water became too contaminated for consumption. The kibbutz therefore laid a pipe connecting directly to the mouth of the spring. To allay the concerns of the Society for the Protection of Nature, efforts were made to ensure enough water flowed down from the spring to sustain the natural vegetation. Al Hamishmar, June 27, 1963, 4.
74. Arie Shahal, “Mey Ein Gedi [Ein Gedi Water],” November 22, 1994; assembly protocol, November 26, 1994, EGA, Assembly Protocols.
75. Yoram Gabison, “Ha-bol’an ha-6,001: Ha-yishuv ha-rishon be-Yisrael she-alul lipol biglal ason ecologi” [The 6001th sinkhole: the first settlement in Israel that may collapse due to an ecological disaster], The Marker, May 1, 2017. https://www.themarker.com/allnews/2017-05-01/ty-article/0000017f-e025-d3a5-af7f-f2af51e90000. Accessed February 20, 2023.
76. Neri Livneh, “Kalu hamayim” [The water ran out], Haaretz, June 20, 2001, https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.710955. Accessed February 20, 2023.
77. ““Ha-Hevra Le-Haganat Ha-Teva neeveket al atid Ein Gedi” [the Society for the Protection of Nature is fighting for the future of Ein Gedi], Walla, April 4, 2006. https://news.walla.co.il/item/889353. Accessed February 19, 2023; Song: “Mi harag et Yam Ha-Melah?” [Who Killed the Dead Sea?], April 30, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J8GpSRGduc. Accessed February 19, 2023.
78. Gabison, “Ha-bol’an ha-6,001.”
79. Yochai Ross, “Ein Gedi mayim mineralyim [Ein Gedi Mineral Water],” Afik, December 12, 2014.
80. The texts for the exhibit were written by kibbutz member Ayala Gilad.
81. The author’s interview with Neri Erely, Ein Gedi, December 12, 2019. For more on the regulation of irrigation at Ein Gedi, and around the Dead Sea more broadly, in the first and second century CE, see: Yadin, Bar Kokhba, 181, 235–37.
82. For more on the causes that led to the receding level of the Dead Sea, see: Lipchin, Sandler and Cushman (eds.), The Jordan River.
83. Shai Gal’s interview with Eli Raz in “Bol’anim be-Yam Ha-Melah” [Dead Sea sinkholes], Channel 2 News, October 29, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR2k2wbSBcA. accessed February 19, 2023; Oriel Danielson’s interview with Eli Raz in “Yam Ha-Melah kfi she-lo raitem oto me-olam” [The Dead Sea like you’ve never seen before], Kan, November 1, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TpK-YMQ48o. Accessed February 19, 2023.
84. Karni Am-Ad, “Nitzkey tofa’at ha-bol’anim” [Damages of the sinkhole phenomenon], Ynet, 07 July 2003, https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2684077,00.html. Accessed February 19, 2023.
85. Eyal Levi, “Holekh ve-ne’elam: keitzad hafakh Yam Ha-Melah mi-pele olam le-sviva nikhedet?” [Gradually vanishing: how did the Dead Sea transform from a world wonder to an endangered area?], Maariv, July 25, 2015. https://www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/Article-490380. Accessed 19 February 2023; Gabison, “Ha-bol’an ha-6,001.”
86. State Comptroller annual report 59b (2008), “Misrad ha-tayarot: yeridat miflas yam ha-melah ve-tofaat ha-bola’nim [Tourism Ministry: the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea and the sinkhole phenomenon],” page 9, https://www.mevaker.gov.il/he/Reports/Report_297/8fcd5265-c5be-46ab-9cd2-ab8c2072a558/part143-dead-sea_doc.docx. Accessed February 27, 2023; Gabison, “Ha-bol’an ha-6,001.”
87. Moshe Gil’ad, “Brukhim ha-baim le-eretz ha-bol’anim” [Welcome to the land of the sinkholes], Haaretz, June 20, 2021, https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/trip/.premium-MAGAZINE-1.9922242. Accessed February 20, 2023.
88. Afik, January 12, 2018.
89. Gabison, “Ha-bol’an ha-6,001;” Afik, December 8, 2017; Afik, November 1, 2019.
90. Amotz Zahavi, “Maskanot va’adat ha-shmurot shel ha-hevra mi-bikoret be-Ein Gedi [Conclusions of the Reserves Committee of the Society from its visit to Ein Gedi],” January 11, 1956, ISA, P-1900/27.
91. See note 78 above.
92. Elmaliach, “The demobilization,” 123–46.
93. Hughes, “Three Dimensions,” 321–2.
94. Wurtsbaugh et al., “Decline of the world’s saline lakes,” 816–21.
95. Schmidt et al., “Environmental degradation,” 2157.
96. E-mail correspondence with the author, December 18, 2020.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nir Arielli
Nir Arielli is Associate Professor of International History at the University of Leeds. His most recent book, From Byron to bin Laden: A History of Foreign War Volunteers, was published by Harvard University Press in 2018. His current work examines the human history of the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea.