Kfar Roshenkira Colony

Rosh HaNikra is a kibbutz in northern occupied Palestine, located on the Mediterranean coast near the Rosh HaNikra caves and the border with Lebanon. The kibbutz was established on January 6, 1949, by a group of discharged Palmach soldiers who relocated there from Kibbutz Hanita, alongside members of the Zionist youth movement and young Holocaust survivors.

It was built on the lands of the village of al-Bassa, whose residents were displaced during the 1948 war. During the 2023 war between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation, the northern border settlements, including Rosh HaNikra, faced targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, leading to their evacuation.

The kibbutz cultivates bananas and avocados and raises turkeys. In 1974, its members founded a biotechnology company called RAHAN MERISTEM, which included the country’s first commercial tissue culture laboratory. RAHAN developed new procedures for large-scale clonal propagation in the lab of over 200 plant species, including ornamental, industrial, fruit, and vegetable crops. By the mid-1980s, laboratory-propagated banana plants became a leading product. RAHAN is now a global center for research and consulting in the banana industry. A formal research and development department was established in 1991 to provide technical support. Areas of expertise include molecular and classical genetics, plant cell and tissue culture, biochemistry, plant physiology, microbiology, and industrial biotechnology.

Methods were also developed for controlling contaminant microbes, early detection and elimination of chromosomal variation, labor reduction, and fixed cost savings in production, among others. As of 2022, the settler population was 1,422.

Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used:

• The settlement’s website (in Hebrew)
• The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics
• Information on the village of al-Bassa from Palestine Remembered website