Mitzpe Shalem

Mitzpe Shalem
Mitzpe Shalem
Coordinates: 31°34′6″N 35°24′3″E
District	Judea and Samaria Area
Council	Megilot
Region	West Bank
Affiliation	formerly Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1970
Founded by	Nahal
Population  (2022)	243

Mitzpe Shalem (Hebrew: מִצְפֵּה שָׁלֵם, lit. 'Shalem Lookout') is an Israeli settlement and former kibbutz in the eastern West Bank. Located near Highway 90 about 21 kilometres (13 mi) north of Ein Gedi and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Green Line about 1 km from the western shores of the Dead Sea, it is the southernmost community under the jurisdiction of Megilot Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 243.

The kibbutz was established in 1971 as a Nahal holding and naturalized as a kibbutz of the Union of Groups and Kibbutzim on January 6, 1977, today it belongs to the kibbutz movement.

Mitzpe Shalem was named after Dr. Natan Shalem, a researcher from the Judean Desert. The name was chosen on the recommendation of Rehabam Ze'evi, Shalem's student.

The jurisdictional area of Mitzpe Shalem is 35,408 dunams, similar to the area of Petah Tikva.

The kibbutz houses the pre-military preparatory school "Salt of the Land".

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 has 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.

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 used to include the Mineral Beach on the Dead Sea, with its sulfur-enhanced baths, and an organized swimming beach, now closed due to damage caused by sinkholes; and a motel named for the nearby Deragot Cliffs. The industry is derived from the manufacture of Ahava Skin Care products in the local company's laboratories. In September 2016 Ahava was sold to a Chinese conglomerate, but was not relocated and still offers working places to the community.

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. 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.