Be'eri

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BE'ERI

BE'ERI (Heb. בּxְאֵרִי), kibbutz in S. Israel, in the N.W. Negev, affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad. It was one of 11 settlements in the Negev and the south founded during the night of October 6, 1946. The founding settlers, members of Ha-No'ar ha-Oved (Israel Working Youth Movement), were joined by other settlers, mainly from Iraq. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 850, dropping to 753 in 2002. The economy was based mainly on its printing press. The kibbutz cultivated around 3,000 acres of farmland, which included field crops and orchards, and raised dairy cattle and ostriches. The name commemorates the labor leader Berl (Be'eri) *Katznelson.

[Efraim Orni]

website:

www.beeri.org.il.