Kfar HaNoar Colony

The Nitzanim Youth Village operated from 1949 until 1989. Kfar HaNoar (Youth Village) was established in 1949 on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Hamama, located in the Gaza District. The youth village was founded in the area previously occupied by Kibbutz Nitzanim, which had been seized and destroyed by the Egyptian army during the 1948 war and ethnic cleansing. After the Israeli occupation forces regained control of the Nitzanim area, the kibbutz was re-established 4 kilometers southeast of its original location.

The Zionist Youth Immigration Department decided to revive the settlement effort, and on the ruins of the destroyed kibbutz, the youth village “Bera’im” was founded in 1949. A group of educators from the Zionist youth movement was sent to the site, initially operating from the only building that had survived the ethnic cleansing war: “Beit al-Sheikh,” also known later as “Beit HaKesar” or “The Castle.” This two-story building, featuring numerous rooms and balconies, had originally been purchased in the early 1940s by the first settlers of Kibbutz Nitzanim.

Soon afterward, the first group of students and trainees arrived at the site, and educational activities began. Nearby were the remains of a large British military camp, and part of the youth village was established in renovated buildings from that camp. With support from the Zionist Agency, the early settlers and first group of trainees renovated and constructed new buildings, including a dining and events hall, a cowshed, a chicken coop, a tool garage, a carpentry workshop, a blacksmith shop, a laundry facility, and various service and administrative buildings. Over time, additional facilities were built, such as a school, dormitories, and a well that supplied water to the original British water tower. A generator was also installed to provide limited nighttime electricity.

Due to a decline in the number of youth movement trainees, the youth village closed in 1989 after forty years of educational activity. The remaining children were transferred to other boarding schools. Over the years, approximately 10,000 settlers were educated at the site.

The site and its buildings have since been declared a heritage preservation area. A field school named “Shikmim” was established in the “Castle” building, and a religious girls’ boarding school also operated there. In the late 1990s, the religious communal settlement of “Nitzan” was founded in the area. The Sde Shikmim school also operates nearby.

The site currently includes memorials to the fighters of the 1948 ethnic cleansing war, including the “Hand to the Fighting Woman” monument, along with other restored wartime landmarks.

No photographs of the settlement are available.

Sources:
Due to the limited availability of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used: the settlement’s official Hebrew website, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
For information on the village of Hamama, the source used is Palestine Remembered.