Otzem Colony

Otzem is a Zionist settlement established on the lands of the destroyed Palestinian village of Iraq Suwaydan. The settlement was founded in 1955 by Zionist immigrants from Morocco on the abandoned lands of Iraq Suwaydan.

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the establishment of the moshav was part of efforts to settle the area on land that had previously belonged to the village.

The name “Otzem,” meaning “strength” or “intensity,” refers to the fierce battles that took place here between Israeli occupation forces and the Egyptian army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 2012, the settlement’s population was approximately 774 settlers.

Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used: the settlement’s official Hebrew website and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
The village of Iraq Suwaydan from the Palestine Remembered website.