| Mitzpe Shalem | ||
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| Founded | 1970 | |
| Founded by | Nahal | |
| Region | Dead Sea | |
| Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement | |
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Mitzpe Shalem
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Mitzpe Shalem (Hebrew: מִצְפֵּה שָׁלֵם, lit. Shalem Lookout) is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz located about 1 km from the western shores of the Dead Sea in the eastern West Bank. It is the southernmost community in the Megilot Regional Council and is located near Highway 90 about 21 kilometres (13 mi) north of Ein Gedi and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Green Line.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[1]
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The community was founded in 1970 as a Nahal settlement on land in the West Bank that Israel occupied after the 1967 Six-Day War. It was inhabited as a kibbutz in the Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim in 1976.
Today it is a "renewed kibbutz" having undergone privatization and is considered a cooperative community, thus no longer belonging to the Kibbutz Movement. It was named after Natan Shalem who investigated the Judean Desert, where the kibbutz is located. As of 2007, the population is about 200 people, of which 59 are official members. Approximately 90 percent of the population, aging from infancy to 50, speaks English.
Like all Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories, Mitzpe Shalem is considered illegal under international law, though Israeli disputes this. The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israeli government counters this by contending that the Fourth Geneva Convention does not apply to the Palestinian territories because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state.[1] This view has been rejected on the basis of an interpretation of rulings by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross, [2] on Israel's West Bank barrier, though the rulings do not actually comment on any settlements themselves.
The economy of the kibbutz depends on agriculture, tourism and industry. In agriculture, the kibbutz has an orchard of palm trees with an area of about 400 dunams and a coop for raising turkeys. Tourism includes the Mineral Beach of the Dead Sea, with its sulfur-enhanced baths, and an organized swimming beach, and a motel named for the nearby Deragot Cliffs. Industry is derived from the manufacture of Ahava Skin Care products in the local company's laboratories.
Ahava manufactures cosmetics based on minerals from the Dead Sea. A factory for refining these chemicals is located in the kibbutz.