Sde Nitzan

Sde Nitzan
שְׂדֵה נִצָּן, שדה ניצן
Sde Nitzan
Coordinates: 31°13′45.47″N 34°25′12.35″E / 31.2292972°N 34.4200972°ECoordinates: 31°13′45.47″N 34°25′12.35″E / 31.2292972°N 34.4200972°E
Council Eshkol
Affiliation Moshavim Movement
Founded 1973
Founded by Immigrants from English speaking countries
Population (2005) 250
Name meaning Field of Flowers
Pitaya plants in Sde Nitzan, Israel

Sde Nitzan (Hebrew: שְׂדֵה נִצָּן, lit. Field of Flowers) is a moshav located near Beersheba in the northern Negev desert in Israel. Located 12 km east of Kerem Shalom, in 2005 it had a population of about 250. The name is symbolic, and is an approximate translation of the name of a Jewish philanthropist named Bloomfield ("Field of Flowers"). The Moshav was promoted by Eddie Peretz and his wife Lil Peretz, an English couple from the UK who experimented the growing methods they used before aliya. They grew tomatoes at Moshav Yesha and after many struggles the Jewish Agency agreed to fund the infrastructure for a moshav with glass hot houses for growing and exporting tomatoes to the European market. Each family paid $10,000. for the pleasure of water breaks, electricity breaks, produce left outdoors in the heat at the airport, and a myriad of broken promises. The first 10 families worked in the first 10 glass houses starting in 1973. It was established in 1973 by Olim from English speaking countries.[1]

References

  1. Mapa's concise gazetteer of Israel (in Hebrew). Yuval El'azari (ed.). Tel-Aviv: Mapa Publishing. 2005. p. 525. ISBN 965-7184-34-7.