Beit HaShita () is a kibbutz in northern Israel, under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. As of it had a population of .
Geography The built-up area of Beit Hashita ranges from 70 meters below sea level to sea level.Survey of Israel, Topographic map
History
Source:Mills, 1932, p. 80
The kibbutz traces its origin to a group meeting held in Hadera in 1928, by "Kvuzat HaHugim" of the HaMahanot HaOlim movement from Haifa and Jerusalem. The first members lived at nearby Ein Harod until 1934, when establishment of the kibbutz began at its present location about 1 km east of Shatta.
The land of the kibbutz was purchased by the Palestine Land Development Company from its Arab owners in 1931.Stein, 1984, pp. 125,134,263–264.Kark, 1997 In 2015, a grandchild of kibbutz residents living in Wales, Jasmine Donahaye, published Losing Israel in which she expressed her disillusionment on learning of the eviction of Arabs on the founding of the kibbutz.Nathan Abrams, A Disillusioned Zionist's Bird’s-eye View of Israel, Haaretz, 4 September 2015.
The kibbutz was later named after the biblical town Beit Hashita, where the Midianites fled after being beaten by Gideon (Judges 7:22),Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land. (3rd edition 1993) Jerusalem, Carta, p. 110, (English)Yizhaqi, Arie (ed.): Madrich Israel (Israel Guide: An Encyclopedia for the Study of the Land), Vol.8: The Northern Valleys, Samaria and Mount Carmel, Jerusalem 1980, Keter Press, p.401 (Hebrew) thought to be located where Shatta was. It falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council.
In the 1945 statistics, Beit hash Shitta had 590 inhabitants, all Jews. It was noted that Shatta was an alternative name.Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 6Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 43
Post-1948 After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Beit HaShita absorbed 5,400 dunams from the lands of the newly depopulated Arab villages of Yubla and Al-Murassas.Fischbach, 2012, p. 13
Eleven kibbutz members fell during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the largest number as a percentage of the population of any town in Israel.
Economy Beit Hashita produced cotton, wheat, melons, olives and citrus fruits. There was also a dairy barn, chickens and a fish farm. In the 1960s, Beit HaShita established a pickling factory which produces and markets pickles, olives and pickled vegetables under the brand name Beit HaShita. The factory also produces syrups for making juices under the brand name Vitaminchick. The factory was bought from the kibbutz in 1998 by the Israeli food manufacturer, Osem.
Religion and culture The Kibbutz Institute for Holidays and Jewish Culture, an organization that preserves the cultural heritage of the kibbutz, was established by kibbutz member Aryeh Ben-Gurion, nephew of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Beit Hashita served as the basis for the 1981 English language book Kibbutz Makom, which described the kibbutz society. Many of the member families of the kibbutz are secular. There is however a small orthodox synagogue.
Notable people Yair Rosenblum Azaria Alon Moshe Peled
References
Bibliography
External links Official website Kibbutz Beit HaShita Collection on the Digital collections of Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library, University of Haifa