Iḥud Ha-Kevuẓot Ve-Ha-Kibbutzim

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IḤUD HA-KEVUẒOT VE-HA-KIBBUTZIM

IḤUD HA-KEVUẒOT VE-HA-KIBBUTZIM , a federation of collective settlements in Israel founded in 1951 by the merger of the *Mapai-oriented kibbutzim, which seceded from *Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad, with the union of smaller collective settlements called Ḥever ha-Kevuẓot. (The latter also comprised the first villages of this kind founded by pioneers of the Second Aliyah before World War i.) The Iḥud is ideologically and politically the most moderate of the various kibbutz unions, allowing for more diversity in its members' outlook and way of life. It comprised over 80 collective settlements with a population of about 30,000 in 1970. In 1979 it reunited with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad to form Takam (the United Kibbutz Movement), which numbered 167 kibbutzim and 76,560 members in 1987. In 2000 the United Kibbutz Movement and *Ha-Kibbutz ha-Arẓi ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir joined forces as "The Kibbutz Movement," representing 260 kibbutzim.