The Bnei Shimon Regional Council , is a regional council

Regional council (Israel)

Regional councils are one of the three types of local government entities found in Israel, with the other two being cities and local councils. As of 2003, there were 53 regional councils in Israel, usually responsible for governing a number of settlements spread across rural areas...

 in the northern Negev

Negev

The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

 in the south of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Most of its territory lies north of Beersheba

Beersheba

Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....

 and the rest bounds Beersheba on the west and east sides as well. The eastern border of this territory straddles the Green Line

Green Line (Israel)

Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...

.

There are 13 communities including seven kibbutzim, four moshav

Moshav

Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...

im, and two new rural towns. Four of the communities (three kibbutzim and one moshav) were established in the founding of the '11 points in the Negev

11 points in the Negev

11 points in the Negev refers to a Jewish Agency plan for establishing eleven settlements in the Negev in 1946, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.-History:...

' in 1946. The rest of the kibbutzim and moshavim were set up after the establishment of the State of Israel.

Settlements within the jurisdiction of the Bnei Shimon Regional Council

Kibbutzim

• Beit Kama
  Beit Kama
  Beit Kama is a kibbutz in the northern Negev desert in Israel. It belongs to the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council.-Background and Geography:...
  
   (1949)
• Dvir
  Dvir
  Dvir , also known as Dvira , is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located near Rahat and Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 406....
  
  
• Hatzerim
  Hatzerim
  Hatzerim is a kibbutz located 8 kilometers west of Beersheba in the Negev desert in Israel. It is named after the Bible , mentionning a site nearby: "the Avvites who lived in farmyards as far as Gaza".-History:...
  
   (1946)
• Kramim
  Kramim
  Kramim is a kibbutz in southern Israel founded in 1980 by an urban society group organized by the kibbutz movement. Located around a kilometer west of Meitar, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 75....
  
  
• Lahav
  Lahav
  Lahav is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located around 20 km north of Beersheba and covering 33,000 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 384....
  
  
• Mishmar HaNegev
  Mishmar HaNegev
  Mishmar HaNegev is a kibbutz in the northern fringe of the Negev desert in Israel. It is located on Road 264, about 2 kilometres south of the Bedouin city of Rahat and around 10 km from Beersheba and is part of the Bnei Shimon Regional Council...
  
   (1946)
• Shoval
  Shoval
  Shoval is a kibbutz in the northern Negev desert in Israel. Located near the Bedouin city of Rahat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council.-History:...
  
   (1946)

Moshavim

• Brosh
  Brosh
  Brosh is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev between Ofakim and Netivot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 221....
  
  
• Nevatim
  Nevatim
  Nevatim is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the northern Negev desert around south-east of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 629....
  
   (1946)
• Taashur
• Tidhar
  Tidhar
  Tidhar is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev between Ofakim and Netivot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council and covers an area of around 1,000 dunams. In 2006 it had a population of 233....
  
  

Towns

• Giv'ot Bar
• Shomria
  Shomria
  Shomria is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located near Lehavim, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 376....
  
   - former kibbutz that is being modified for settlement of former Gush Katif
  Gush Katif
  Gush Katif was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. Gush Katif was specifically mentioned by Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who fell victim to an assassin in 1995, as essential to Israel's security border. In August 2005, the Israeli army moved the 8,600...
  
   refugees.

Institutions

The following institutions operate within the boundaries of the Bnei Shimon Regional Council:

• Adanim, a youth village
  Youth village
  A youth village is a boarding school model first developed in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis...
  
  
• Duda'im, a waste treatment
  Waste treatment
  Waste treatment refers to the activities required to ensure that waste has the least practicable impact on the environment. In many countries various forms of waste treatment are required by law.-Solid waste treatment:...
  
   centre, located on Route 25
  Highway 25 (Israel)
  Highway 25 is a rural highway in southern Israel. It begins northwest of Nahal Oz at the border with the Gaza Strip, and it passes through Netivot, Beersheba and Dimona. It continues southeast toward Arava Junction, where it meets Highway 90. Its length is estimated by the Israeli Department of...
  
   near the HaNasi Junction
• Duda'im Environmental Protection Visitors Center
• Joe Alon Center, a Bedouin
  Bedouin
  The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
  
   cultural museum
  Museum
  A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
  
  
• Mevo'ot HaNegev, the regional high school, located in Shoval
  Shoval
  Shoval is a kibbutz in the northern Negev desert in Israel. Located near the Bedouin city of Rahat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council.-History:...
  
  
• Nitzanei HaNegev Regional Elementary School, located in Beit Kama
  Beit Kama
  Beit Kama is a kibbutz in the northern Negev desert in Israel. It belongs to the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council.-Background and Geography:...
  
  

External links

• Official website (Hebrew)