On 26/02/09 we will hold the ceremony of removing the lot from a monument that will commemorate the first settlements in the Dead Sea square. The preparations for the jubilee celebration of the Ascension to the ground in Naot HaKachar evoked memories, some of which can be shared with the readers.
In February 1959, after many preparations, a number of "adventurous" pioneers went up to the salt marsh south of the Dead Sea and decided to establish an agricultural farm there. Name given to the farm: Neot HaKachar.
A dilapidated shack was built on Givat Havar above Nahal Tzin. At the foot of the hut a fence was erected for a herd of cattle. Later, they planted the date plantation in Ein-Aros and moved to live near the mouth of Nahal-Ametsia, winter vegetable areas, flowers, date plantations, an experimental vineyard and fish ponds were developed. The motorized desert trips of Naut-HaKachar were famous in Israel and around the world. As well as the quality of the vegetables and dates that come from the Naot-HaKachar farm.
Nature was not always kind to the settlers, the cows suffered from boils and other troubles, the vegetable fields were washed... twice. A flood also affected the desert tours (the story will follow). Many good people joined the "farm" and worked, lived, stayed or passed through it. (Among the founders was Micah Hilav - the first MP of the Nahal company in Ein-Gadi).
Following the acquaintance of the rabbi of the Victoria (Australia) congregation of Magbit, the Jews of the community donated money to build a permanent structure for the settlers on the farm, a cornerstone for a permanent structure was laid in the presence of Ben-Gurion. Administrative difficulties forced the settlers to leave and in their place the moshav was established in 1970.
I will go ahead almost thirty years and mention my "family connection" to the Dead Sea: a connection that was created in the stories of a young immigrant from Germany who later gave birth to me, in his first years in Israel my father worked as a nutter / "gefir" in the Dead Sea factories that were then called Haslagh Co. Among other things, he told about the Caledonia, that earthen embankment that protected the evaporation ponds from the intrusion of floodwaters. Over the years, I came to Naot HaKacher as a tour guide in the desert. During the low seasons in tourism I helped in the agricultural fields.
From time to time I traveled to Caledonia and tried to understand the origin of the name, searching and questioning yielded the following explanation: Caledonia is a city in Scotland, it turns out that the attitude of the English to Caledonia is the same as our attitude to Halam, i.e. a place where wisdom and order are not the prominent qualities, in other words Caledonia is an example of A mess" as you remember and as you know the period is the period of the British mandate and the works in the Dead Sea? In the concession given by the mandate government - the British, it turns out that even in the construction of the flood defense battery there was no wisdom and order of the dominant features, the "mess celebrated" and that is why the English called it the Caledonian battery.
In recent years Caledonia disappeared... the rise of the water level in the evaporation ponds (in the south) caused the pond water to flow south (into the salinity). Since the "Dead Sea Factories" had a concession on its shores as well, it was not a problem for them, they simply built a big, long, wide and ugly embankment, the Caledonia disappeared (as well as the boat that stood next to the old workers' camp), and the predatory society bit off another part of Naut's unique saltiness - The square.
In another place, a number of years ago, I wrote about the natural data in the place and offered to the "authority" Declare the salt marsh as a nature reserve, a proposal that was the last in a series of appeals, pleas, grievances and solicitations for many years (starting in 1968), today there is nothing to announce and almost nothing to maintain.
But, there are many agricultural areas, two settlements and agricultural areas that are a direct continuation of the "adventurous" settlement in 1959. The term "adventurous" grew out of a conversation that took place between the first settlers and the representatives of the contemporary residents. When the "firsts" were asked why they came and settled in "the end of the world", the questioners preferred to ignore answers such as "a beautiful and unique place", "originality and uniqueness in initiative", "a desire to live in a different way", and preferred the "adventurers". Adventurousness is an easier and clearer concept to achieve, to grasp. Today the young people go on faraway journeys, perhaps this is the parallel to the act of settling down by the young people of 1959. Part of the success of those firsts lies in the fact that every bar-by-rab was convinced that the project was doomed to failure, a position that in many cases made it easier to get approvals. Along the lines of "give them what they ask for, they will run away after one summer anyway". They did not run away, but grew, developed and established a farm to glory.
Then the settling institutions began to torment the settlers. Lack of connection to the infrastructure, lack of budgets, prevention of moving to a permanent structure (which was built with donations earmarked for those "adventurers"), all these and more made it difficult to continue existence on the farm. Either way, the result was the creation of a settlement base in a place that the "experts" did not see as a future, a settlement base on which the existing settlements grew.
The residents of the Dead Sea Square do not owe anything to anyone, but it would be appropriate for them to remember and internalize the basic fact: most likely, without the initial settlement of those "adventurous" pioneers, there would not be those flourishing settlements today. More than that: it is most likely that without the settlement of those "adventurous" pioneers, the Dead Sea factories would have flooded the salt and turned most of it into evaporation ponds for the extraction of minerals.
Therefore, the rescue of the remains of the salt pan can also be attributed to the "adventurous" activity of those initial settlers, "adventurers" who saw the salt pan not only as an "economic mine" but also as a scenic, natural value that deserves to exist due to its beauty, uniqueness, and everything in it. Worthy of existence in its own right.
And for that they will be blessed
More on the subject on the science website
