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Beit Oren

 

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Beit Oren




 
 
Beit Oren ( or , lit. House of Pinetree) is a kibbutz
Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a Intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and Zionism....
 in northern Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
. It falls under the jurisdication of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council
Hof HaCarmel Regional Council

Hof Hacarmel Regional Council is a Regional council located in the northern Israeli coastal plain. The council serves a large area, from Tirat Carmel in the north to Caesarea in the south....
. In 2006 it had a population of 320.

utz Beit Oren is located in the heart of Carmel mountain range, right next to the Carmel Nature Reserve national park, an area often called "little Switzerland".

ngle Arabic house stood on the top of the hill in 1934.






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Beit Oren ( or , lit. House of Pinetree) is a kibbutz
Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a Intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and Zionism....
 in northern Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
. It falls under the jurisdication of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council
Hof HaCarmel Regional Council

Hof Hacarmel Regional Council is a Regional council located in the northern Israeli coastal plain. The council serves a large area, from Tirat Carmel in the north to Caesarea in the south....
. In 2006 it had a population of 320.

Geography

Kibbutz Beit Oren is located in the heart of Carmel mountain range, right next to the Carmel Nature Reserve national park, an area often called "little Switzerland".

History

A single Arabic house stood on the top of the hill in 1934. It was purchased, with the surrounding lands, and settled by a group of 15 Jewish workers. The site served as a watch tower and camp. They intended to build a city and name it Yaarot HaCarmel, but during the Arab revolt in 1936, some of the workers were killed when the site was attacked.

Kibbutz Beit Oren was founded in 1939, by the Hebrew Socialist Adolescence movement, immigrants from Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. Over time they were joined by other groups from Dror and Aliyat HaNoar, and a group from kibbutz Ma'agan Michael
Ma'agan Michael

Ma'agan Michael is a kibbutz in Israel. It is currently the largest kibbutz in the country, with a population of over 1,400 residents , and falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council....
. The kibbutz was established as a Haganah
Haganah

Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces....
 as a Palmach
Palmach

The Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine....
 base for undergraound activities against the British.

On 9 October 1945, a Palmach unit set out to free 208 illegal immigrants detained at the Atlit Detention camp. They overcame the guards, and the immigrants, together with their liberators, escaped to Kibbutz Beit Oren. The attack was the first anti-British action of the Palmach
Palmach

The Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine....
.

Beit Oren went practically bankrupt, leaving the senior members without any income or means of subsistence, lots of debts and commitments for which they had no way to cover. The kibbutz movement stopped financial support to the kibbutz, then in severe economic and social crisis, and suggested that veteran members leave. The United Kibbutz Movement
Kibbutz Movement

The Kibbutz Movement is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi....
 allowed a group of young individuals to change the kibbutz fundamentally. In 1999, eight members of Beit Oren, applied to the High Court of Justice, to order the registrar of cooperative societies, to abolish the classification of Beit Oren as a kibbutz and classify it as a different kind of cooperative society. It later underwent privatization, shifting from a kibbutz
Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a Intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and Zionism....
 to a community village.

The kibbutz had a membership of about 200 families.

Economics

The kibbutz has a hotel and horse riding centre. Other sources of revenue in the community include a lead factory with an on-site glass work shop. The kibbutz also features an extensive, privately-owned events venue that formerly served as its community dinning hall. Beit Oren's large outdoor membership-based swimming pool also manages to attract large amounts of people from Haifa and surrounding communities. In addition to that, the kibbutz also features a locally-owned pub with live bands and a professional mountain-bike store offering new bike models, bike repairs and modification as well as guided trips within the Carmel mountain range.

Attractions

Khirbet Oren (Shalale) is an ancient city in the center of Mount Carmel, on a steep hill overlooking Oren valley. There are few remains at the site indicating that the city flourished in Hellenistic and Roman times. There were Canaanite findings in the area (25th-10th C BC).