Bet Oren

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BET OREN

BET OREN (Heb. בֵּית אֹרֶן; "House of Pine Tree"), kibbutz on Mount Carmel, affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad. Founded in 1939, the settlement was initially isolated and had little land, so that its members had to work as hired laborers in Haifa. During the Mandate regime Bet Oren served as a clandestine training camp of *Haganah. After irrigable land on the Carmel coast was allocated to Bet Oren, it raised dairy and beef cattle, fodder, field crops, deciduous fruit, and other products. The kibbutz had a large rest house amid the natural pine and oak forests and nature reserves of the surrounding area. In 1970 Bet Oren numbered 220 inhabitants; in 2002, 299.

[Efraim Orni]