Three lookouts
Encyclopedia
The three lookouts were three Jewish settlements built in the Negev
desert in 1943 on land owned by the Jewish National Fund
. The goal was securing the land and assessing its feasibility for agriculture. The founding was preceded by a complex land purchase procedure, as the British authorities had practically prohibited Jewish land acquisition in the area following the costly Arab Revolt and the subsequent White Paper of 1939
.
These lookouts, Revivim
, Gvulot
, and Beit Eshel
, later served as a springboard for further Jewish population of the Negev. The residents of the lookouts made extensive geophysical survey
s and conducted agricultural experiments for this purpose.
and the 1940 Land Transfer Regulations placed a number of restrictions on Jewish settlement and land purchase in the Mandate for Palestine. The Negev
desert was one of the areas where both were forbidden. On the other hand, World War II had broken out and the Yishuv
sought to broaden its areas of settlement in order to have greater capacity to house Jewish refugees from Europe.
In general, the Yishuv, which was vehemently opposed to the White Paper, was interested in settling the Negev and conducting geological and hydrological surveys there. It also wished to test the British reaction to such a move. On April 29, 1942, a number of Yishuv notables, including Arthur Rupin, Eliezer Kaplan
and Yosef Weitz
, toured the area to determine its adequacy for settlement. While Rupin and Kaplan proposed creating a number of agricultural settlements in the area, Weitz rejected the idea and recommended the construction of three outposts—in the areas of Rafah
, Beersheba
and Bir 'Asluj—that would each be located on a different type of soil and help determine the suitability of the surrounding area for agriculture and habitation.
Weitz eventually proposed creating ten such outposts, that would each employ 10–12 workers living in a walled building. Eventually however, only three outposts were created, as per Weitz's original recommendation.
(JNF), operating as the Tzukerman Office, a private real estate company secretly affiliated with the JNF. If required to purchase land from Arabs (after 1940), the office would recruit Arabs who had allied themselves with the Yishuv, to circumvent the British ban. The land was mostly purchased from Negev Bedouin, who were usually not nationalistically motivated and more interested in the financial aspect. The JNF also set out to buy Jewish-owned land in the region, which was mostly unused. In 1936, this totalled 41,000 dunam
s (41 km2). Another policy was to consolidate the lands as much as possible and buy adjacent lots, in order to be able to settle the land later.
In 1943, Weitz ordered Yoav Tzukerman to buy lands near Rafah/Khan Younis, in Wadi Shiniq (HaBesor Stream), and near 'Asluj and Beersheba. Lands were bought, but at the time the Bedouins in the area were enjoying relative prosperity and were less willing to sell. This significantly hurt the settlement plan for Gvulot
, which called for the purchase of 5,000–6,000 dunams (5–6 km2).
Gimel organization. Most of those who planned to settle in Gvulot stayed in Rishon LeZion, and the lookout was managed from the moshava
Beit Gan
in the north of the country.
Revivim was founded on July 28, 1943, by the organization HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed
, and originally named Tel Tzofim. Three members came three months earlier, but were driven out by the British. On July 28, six people came to the site and started construction, soon joined by another six.
Beit Eshel's first residents arrived on August 9, 1943—four people with a tractor and two tents. An additional 36 people joined them later. The residents were immigrants from Austria and Germany, later joined by immigrants from Romania and native Jews. The group was called HaYogev and were planning to set up a moshav
. However, they were unable to do so due to lack of resources, and therefore organized as a kibbutz
instead.
Many of the early settlers, unable to adjust to the intense heat during the day, freezing temperatures at night, and plagues of mosquitoes, packed up and left. Those who remained built uniform settlements consisting of a square courtyard surrounded by walls, a watchtower, living quarters and service buildings.
Although suitable water was found in Beit Eshel, it was too deep to extract effectively at the time; water was purchased from Beersheba
. Only after World War II was Beit Eshel able to acquire a suitable pump. Eight wells were dug in Beit Eshel in total, two of them successful (another one was further east and saved for later). Mini-dams were built in the wadis around Beit Eshel for irrigation. A larger dam was planned for the Beersheba Stream, but nothing came of the project.
In Revivim, a water well was purchased from the British administration, but its water was too saline. The workers then received free water from the British military base at Bir 'Asluj, until a new dig uncovered water at a depth of over 100 m and a tractor was modified to pump it out. A dam, the largest in the three lookouts at 1.2 m in height, was eventually built in Revivim. Three large reservoirs were also built in Revivim, with capacities of 40,000, 60,000 and 100,000 m3. They drained into the ground very quickly however. These projects represented the lion's share of the lookouts' expenditures, at over 70,000 Palestine pounds (compared to an annual budget of about 10,000 pounds for each lookout).
By 1946, it had become clear that the three lookouts could not sustain an independent water supply. Also at that time, the Yishuv decided to create 11 additional settlements
around the lookouts. In light of that, a decision was made that the water for these settlements would be provided by localities north of the Negev. However, budgets were also approved for additional wells and experiments in the existing villages.
allowed it to receive superior communication services, such as a regular postal service (the letters were delivered to Beersheba) and a telephone line. The other lookouts communicated only through a pirate radio with the rest of the lookouts and the Haganah
.
Transportation of goods and people were done with the vehicles in the lookouts, which each had a van and sometimes a truck. When these were unavailable or could not be used, the residents of Revivim and Beit Eshel relied on outside means—British vehicles traveling to and from the base at 'Asluj and public transport between Gaza and Beersheba, respectively. Gvulot was more isolated and while attempts were made to create a dirt road to Khan Yunis
, in the end the residents had to take the route through Rafah
. In rainy months, the lookouts were isolated in terms of transportation, especially Gvulot.
Relations with the Bedouin were also mostly positive. The lookouts were in constant contact with the sheiks of the Azzazma and Tarabin tribes that ruled the area. Gvulot employed eight Bedouin guards. While economic ties were limited, the lookouts made an effort to keep warm social ties. Each lookout appointed a Mukhtar
and kept Bedouin hospitality traditions. By contrast, relations with the fellah
een of the area were limited to negligible.
due to lack of jobs. Several factories were therefore built in the village, including a wool processing plant, a tin plant and a factory that manufactured construction materials. A cannery
was built in Revivim. Gvulot planned to build a diamond processing plant, but the relevant equipment was destroyed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Little non-agricultural development occurred during these years outside Beit Eshel. While Gvulot and Revivim each had over 100 members, only a few actually lived on the sites—12–14 in Gvulot and about 25 in Revivim. Despite this, the vast majority of these residents worked in the lookouts, something uncommon at the time.
The residential areas of the lookouts were built as a castle—a two-floor stone building serving as a tower, with a 35 m2 courtyard surrounded by a stone wall. The tower served as the living quarters for up to 25 people, and the lookouts were encouraged not to build living quarters anywhere else for security reasons. However, this was disregarded in Beit Eshel as the need for additional living space arose. By 1947, security considerations trumped all others in plans for new constructions, not just in the lookouts, but also in most other settlements in the Negev.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
, beginning with an attack on May 17, 1948 by the Muslim Brotherhood
, Beit Eshel was besieged by Egyptian forces and destroyed. When Beersheba was captured by the Israel Defense Forces
in the Battle of Beersheba
in 1948, the site was abandoned. Its inhabitants moved to the Jezreel Valley, establishing Moshav HaYogev
.
in the west to Hazali in the east. The lands were mostly on sandy soil, being just north of expansive sand dunes. Beit Eshel was also built on a plateau, about 300 m above sea level, 3 km east of Beersheba
, on loess
soil. Revivim was built on a limestone
hill surrounded by a plateau. The soil was a mix of sand and loess.
type.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
conducted meteorological surveys. The only previous surveys had been done on a much smaller scale in police stations in the area in the 19th Century. They concluded that precipitation was higher in the northern Negev than in the southern, although the amount varied significantly from year to year, making it impossible to rely on the average amount. In addition, it was discovered that the proportion of rainfall in each month to the yearly average was different in the Negev than in other areas in Mandatory Palestine; in particular, there was a lot of rainfall in the month of May. The measurements also concluded that the amount of dew
falling in the northern and western Negev was higher than in any other part of Mandatory Palestine. Research was also performed on the temperature, winds, air moisture and evaporation.
Hydrological surveys were conducted by Leo Picard
, who concluded that none of the three lookouts would serve as suitable locations for extracting ground water, which was either nonexistent or suffered from excessive salinity
. The only potential drilling site for water, according to Picard, was on the coastal plain between Gaza
and Rafah
. This research provided a general direction for choosing which land to purchase in the future.
, barley
, oatmeal
and legumes. It was concluded that growing these crops in the summer was not possible in that region, but the winter cultivation proved successful, by 1944 yielding 60 kg of wheat and 90 kg of barley per dunam (compared to 11.5 and 13.7, respectively, in the nearby Arab villages). A similar success was recorded in Gvulot, which yielded 61.5 kg of wheat, 75 kg of barkey, 86 kg of oatmeal and 98 kg of peas per dunam. Despite this, it was noted that 1944 was a rainy year and the yields could be lower in other years.
By contrast, in Revivim, both winter and summer cultivations were reasonably successful, but the village was criticized for using rainwater that had been expensive to collect for large-scale farming, especially during the winter months. It was therefore unclear whether cereal farming in Revivim was financially feasible.
Fruits and vegetables were also grown in the lookouts. In Revivim, vegetable harvests were rich, but much water was required to maintain the crops (275 m3 per dunam in for corn and 360 m3 for radish and beet), therefore making the venture unprofitable. Orchards were planted at low density (about 4 trees per dunam) of olives, peaches, apricots, almonds and pomegranates. Many of them froze in the winter or did not grow due to excessive water salinity. The most successful were dates, olives and pomegranates, which could grow on saline water.
, eucalyptus
, cypress
and others.
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'...
desert in 1943 on land owned by the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
. The goal was securing the land and assessing its feasibility for agriculture. The founding was preceded by a complex land purchase procedure, as the British authorities had practically prohibited Jewish land acquisition in the area following the costly Arab Revolt and the subsequent White Paper of 1939
White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in...
.
These lookouts, Revivim
Revivim
Revivim showers) is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located around half an hour south of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council...
, Gvulot
Gvulot
Gvulot is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 239....
, and Beit Eshel
Beit Eshel
Beit Eshel was a Jewish settlement established in the Negev desert in Mandate Palestine in 1943 as one of the three lookouts, alongside Revivim and Gvulot. It was located two kilometres south-east of Beersheba. According to the Jewish National Fund, the name means "House of the Tamarisk" and...
, later served as a springboard for further Jewish population of the Negev. The residents of the lookouts made extensive geophysical survey
Geophysical survey
Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Geophysical surveys may use a great variety of sensing instruments, and data may be collected from above or below the Earth's surface or from aerial or marine platforms. Geophysical surveys have many...
s and conducted agricultural experiments for this purpose.
Historical background and early proposals
The British White Paper of 1939White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in...
and the 1940 Land Transfer Regulations placed a number of restrictions on Jewish settlement and land purchase in the Mandate for Palestine. The 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'...
desert was one of the areas where both were forbidden. On the other hand, World War II had broken out and the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
sought to broaden its areas of settlement in order to have greater capacity to house Jewish refugees from Europe.
In general, the Yishuv, which was vehemently opposed to the White Paper, was interested in settling the Negev and conducting geological and hydrological surveys there. It also wished to test the British reaction to such a move. On April 29, 1942, a number of Yishuv notables, including Arthur Rupin, Eliezer Kaplan
Eliezer Kaplan
Eliezer Kaplan was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician, one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence and the country's first Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.-Biography:...
and Yosef Weitz
Yosef Weitz
Yosef Weitz was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of the Jewish National Fund. From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine.-Biography:...
, toured the area to determine its adequacy for settlement. While Rupin and Kaplan proposed creating a number of agricultural settlements in the area, Weitz rejected the idea and recommended the construction of three outposts—in the areas of Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
, 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 Bir 'Asluj—that would each be located on a different type of soil and help determine the suitability of the surrounding area for agriculture and habitation.
Weitz eventually proposed creating ten such outposts, that would each employ 10–12 workers living in a walled building. Eventually however, only three outposts were created, as per Weitz's original recommendation.
Land purchase
The land purchases in the Negev were made by the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
(JNF), operating as the Tzukerman Office, a private real estate company secretly affiliated with the JNF. If required to purchase land from Arabs (after 1940), the office would recruit Arabs who had allied themselves with the Yishuv, to circumvent the British ban. The land was mostly purchased from Negev Bedouin, who were usually not nationalistically motivated and more interested in the financial aspect. The JNF also set out to buy Jewish-owned land in the region, which was mostly unused. In 1936, this totalled 41,000 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s (41 km2). Another policy was to consolidate the lands as much as possible and buy adjacent lots, in order to be able to settle the land later.
In 1943, Weitz ordered Yoav Tzukerman to buy lands near Rafah/Khan Younis, in Wadi Shiniq (HaBesor Stream), and near 'Asluj and Beersheba. Lands were bought, but at the time the Bedouins in the area were enjoying relative prosperity and were less willing to sell. This significantly hurt the settlement plan for Gvulot
Gvulot
Gvulot is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 239....
, which called for the purchase of 5,000–6,000 dunams (5–6 km2).
Founding
The first settlement, Mitzpe Gvulot (today simply Gvulot) was established on May 12, 1943. The first squad numbered 12 people who came with a truck, four tents and a tractor. The group consisted of native Jews and a number of immigrants from Bulgaria from the Kibbutz HaShomer HaTzairHashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
Gimel organization. Most of those who planned to settle in Gvulot stayed in Rishon LeZion, and the lookout was managed from the moshava
Moshava
A moshava , plural: Moshavot is a form of rural settlement in Israel.In a moshava, as opposed to communal settlements like the kibbutz and the moshav, all the land and property are privately-owned. The first moshavot, described as "colonies" in professional literature, were established by...
Beit Gan
Yavne'el
Yavne'el is a moshava and a local council in the North District of Israel. It is named after a village in the tribe Naphtali , which was probably located on the tel north of the moshava. Located south-west of Tiberias, it was declared a local council in 1951...
in the north of the country.
Revivim was founded on July 28, 1943, by the organization HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed
Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed
Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed , sometimes abbreiviated to No'al is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, the Labor Zionist movement....
, and originally named Tel Tzofim. Three members came three months earlier, but were driven out by the British. On July 28, six people came to the site and started construction, soon joined by another six.
Beit Eshel's first residents arrived on August 9, 1943—four people with a tractor and two tents. An additional 36 people joined them later. The residents were immigrants from Austria and Germany, later joined by immigrants from Romania and native Jews. The group was called HaYogev and were planning to set up a 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...
. However, they were unable to do so due to lack of resources, and therefore organized as a kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
instead.
Many of the early settlers, unable to adjust to the intense heat during the day, freezing temperatures at night, and plagues of mosquitoes, packed up and left. Those who remained built uniform settlements consisting of a square courtyard surrounded by walls, a watchtower, living quarters and service buildings.
Water supply
In the beginning, Gvulot got its water from nearby Arab villages. The price was 1 Palestinian Pound for 1 cubic meter, very high for the time. The cost of transport (done with a mule cart) was also high. In light of that, great effort was made to find an independent water source in the area. The first well, dug on July 21, 1943, turned up highly saline water. Five additional digs were made in 1943–1944, but turned out unsatisfactory. Tar-covered water collection ditches were also attempted, and helped ease the situation, but much water seeped through them into the ground, and additional filters had to be installed to make the water suitable for drinking.Although suitable water was found in Beit Eshel, it was too deep to extract effectively at the time; water was purchased from 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....
. Only after World War II was Beit Eshel able to acquire a suitable pump. Eight wells were dug in Beit Eshel in total, two of them successful (another one was further east and saved for later). Mini-dams were built in the wadis around Beit Eshel for irrigation. A larger dam was planned for the Beersheba Stream, but nothing came of the project.
In Revivim, a water well was purchased from the British administration, but its water was too saline. The workers then received free water from the British military base at Bir 'Asluj, until a new dig uncovered water at a depth of over 100 m and a tractor was modified to pump it out. A dam, the largest in the three lookouts at 1.2 m in height, was eventually built in Revivim. Three large reservoirs were also built in Revivim, with capacities of 40,000, 60,000 and 100,000 m3. They drained into the ground very quickly however. These projects represented the lion's share of the lookouts' expenditures, at over 70,000 Palestine pounds (compared to an annual budget of about 10,000 pounds for each lookout).
By 1946, it had become clear that the three lookouts could not sustain an independent water supply. Also at that time, the Yishuv decided to create 11 additional settlements
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:...
around the lookouts. In light of that, a decision was made that the water for these settlements would be provided by localities north of the Negev. However, budgets were also approved for additional wells and experiments in the existing villages.
Contact with the outside world
Beit Eshel's close proximity to BeershebaBeersheba
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....
allowed it to receive superior communication services, such as a regular postal service (the letters were delivered to Beersheba) and a telephone line. The other lookouts communicated only through a pirate radio with the rest of the lookouts and the 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.- Origins :...
.
Transportation of goods and people were done with the vehicles in the lookouts, which each had a van and sometimes a truck. When these were unavailable or could not be used, the residents of Revivim and Beit Eshel relied on outside means—British vehicles traveling to and from the base at 'Asluj and public transport between Gaza and Beersheba, respectively. Gvulot was more isolated and while attempts were made to create a dirt road to Khan Yunis
Khan Yunis
Khan Yunis - often spelt Khan Younis or Khan Yunnis - is a city and adjacent refugee camp in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the city, its refugee camp, and its immediate surroundings had a total population of 180,000 in 2006...
, in the end the residents had to take the route through Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
. In rainy months, the lookouts were isolated in terms of transportation, especially Gvulot.
Relations with non-Jewish elements
The British Mandate authorities were ambivalent towards the founding of the lookouts. On the one hand, the Yishuv broke Mandatory law not just with the land purchases, but also with illegally holding weapons and operating illegal radios. On the other hand, there was no reason not to allow the Jews to attempt permanent settlement in the Negev, which was rare due to the Negev Bedouin's nomadic lifestyle. The local authorities took either a pro-Zionist or anti-Zionist stand depending on who headed them. The relationship with the British military were generally warm, especially in Revivim where some of the residents worked in the British base in 'Asluj and the British protected the area to prevent theft.Relations with the Bedouin were also mostly positive. The lookouts were in constant contact with the sheiks of the Azzazma and Tarabin tribes that ruled the area. Gvulot employed eight Bedouin guards. While economic ties were limited, the lookouts made an effort to keep warm social ties. Each lookout appointed a Mukhtar
Mukhtar
Mukhtar meaning "chosen" in Arabic, refers to the head of a village or mahalle in many Arab countries as well as in Turkey and Cyprus. The name refers to the fact that mukhtars are usually selected by some consensual or participatory method, often involving an election. Mukhtar is also a common...
and kept Bedouin hospitality traditions. By contrast, relations with the fellah
Fellah
Fellah , also alternatively known as Fallah is a peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa...
een of the area were limited to negligible.
Construction and development in 1943–1948
Other than the agricultural work, the lookouts' managers sought to create additional employment. In Beit Eshel, many of the residents were forced to move to Ness ZionaNess Ziona
Ness Ziona is a city in central Israel founded in 1883. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 38,100, and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams.-Nahalat Reuben:...
due to lack of jobs. Several factories were therefore built in the village, including a wool processing plant, a tin plant and a factory that manufactured construction materials. A cannery
Canning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...
was built in Revivim. Gvulot planned to build a diamond processing plant, but the relevant equipment was destroyed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Little non-agricultural development occurred during these years outside Beit Eshel. While Gvulot and Revivim each had over 100 members, only a few actually lived on the sites—12–14 in Gvulot and about 25 in Revivim. Despite this, the vast majority of these residents worked in the lookouts, something uncommon at the time.
The residential areas of the lookouts were built as a castle—a two-floor stone building serving as a tower, with a 35 m2 courtyard surrounded by a stone wall. The tower served as the living quarters for up to 25 people, and the lookouts were encouraged not to build living quarters anywhere else for security reasons. However, this was disregarded in Beit Eshel as the need for additional living space arose. By 1947, security considerations trumped all others in plans for new constructions, not just in the lookouts, but also in most other settlements in the Negev.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The first attack on one of the lookouts came in the civil war stage, on December 16, 1947, when local Bedouin attacked a vehicle between Halutza and Revivim. The British forces in the area refused to intervene.During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
, beginning with an attack on May 17, 1948 by the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, Beit Eshel was besieged by Egyptian forces and destroyed. When Beersheba was captured by the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in the Battle of Beersheba
Battle of Beersheba (1948)
The Battle of Beersheba, codenamed Operation Moses , was an Israeli offensive on Beersheba on October 21, 1948. It was part of Operation Yoav and was conducted at the end of the operation. It was made possible following the opening of a land corridor from the Negev desert to the rest of Israel in...
in 1948, the site was abandoned. Its inhabitants moved to the Jezreel Valley, establishing Moshav HaYogev
HaYogev
HaYogev is a moshav in northern Israel. Located around seven kilometres west of Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 534....
.
Geography
The three lookouts are located in different parts of the Negev desert with different characteristics; Gvulot was founded close to Wadi Shiniq (Beersheba Stream), on a plateau 125 m above sea level. Gvulot's lands were heavily dispersed, going from DangourNirim
Nirim is a kibbutz in the northwestern Negev in Israel. Located near the border with the Gaza Strip, about 7 kilometers east of Khan Yunis, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council...
in the west to Hazali in the east. The lands were mostly on sandy soil, being just north of expansive sand dunes. Beit Eshel was also built on a plateau, about 300 m above sea level, 3 km east 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....
, on loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
soil. Revivim was built on a limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
hill surrounded by a plateau. The soil was a mix of sand and loess.
Research and experiments conducted
As intended, the founding of the lookouts led to a number of important scientific researches which assisted future Jewish agricultural settlement in the Negev desert.Scientific surveys
An important geological survey was conducted in 1944–1945. The survey included 2,450 samples spread over 2.7 million dunams (2,700 km2). It concluded, among other things, that most of the Negev's soil was deeper than 2 m and of the loessLoess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
type.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
conducted meteorological surveys. The only previous surveys had been done on a much smaller scale in police stations in the area in the 19th Century. They concluded that precipitation was higher in the northern Negev than in the southern, although the amount varied significantly from year to year, making it impossible to rely on the average amount. In addition, it was discovered that the proportion of rainfall in each month to the yearly average was different in the Negev than in other areas in Mandatory Palestine; in particular, there was a lot of rainfall in the month of May. The measurements also concluded that the amount of dew
Dew
[Image:Dew on a flower.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Some dew on an iris in Sequoia National Park]]Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening...
falling in the northern and western Negev was higher than in any other part of Mandatory Palestine. Research was also performed on the temperature, winds, air moisture and evaporation.
Hydrological surveys were conducted by Leo Picard
Leo Picard
Leo Picard, also known as Yehudah Leo Picard , was an Israeli geologist and an expert in the field of hydrology.-Biography:Picard was born in Germany in 1900, and studied at universities in Freiberg and Berlin, in Germany, and in Paris and London, and taught at the University of Florence,...
, who concluded that none of the three lookouts would serve as suitable locations for extracting ground water, which was either nonexistent or suffered from excessive salinity
Salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
. The only potential drilling site for water, according to Picard, was on the coastal plain between Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
and Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
. This research provided a general direction for choosing which land to purchase in the future.
Agricultural experiments
A number of agricultural experiments were also conducted, which would pave the way for future agriculture in the arid region. In Beit Eshel, attempts were made to grow wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, oatmeal
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....
and legumes. It was concluded that growing these crops in the summer was not possible in that region, but the winter cultivation proved successful, by 1944 yielding 60 kg of wheat and 90 kg of barley per dunam (compared to 11.5 and 13.7, respectively, in the nearby Arab villages). A similar success was recorded in Gvulot, which yielded 61.5 kg of wheat, 75 kg of barkey, 86 kg of oatmeal and 98 kg of peas per dunam. Despite this, it was noted that 1944 was a rainy year and the yields could be lower in other years.
By contrast, in Revivim, both winter and summer cultivations were reasonably successful, but the village was criticized for using rainwater that had been expensive to collect for large-scale farming, especially during the winter months. It was therefore unclear whether cereal farming in Revivim was financially feasible.
Fruits and vegetables were also grown in the lookouts. In Revivim, vegetable harvests were rich, but much water was required to maintain the crops (275 m3 per dunam in for corn and 360 m3 for radish and beet), therefore making the venture unprofitable. Orchards were planted at low density (about 4 trees per dunam) of olives, peaches, apricots, almonds and pomegranates. Many of them froze in the winter or did not grow due to excessive water salinity. The most successful were dates, olives and pomegranates, which could grow on saline water.
Forestry
Trees were planted in the lookouts in order to shield the agricultural land from storms and moving sand. It was hoped that some of these would also turn a profit. In the years 1943–1948, about 500,000 seedlings were planted, with species including tamarixTamarix
The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa...
, eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
, cypress
Cupressus
The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group...
and others.