Eilon Settlement
January 27, 2026
Kibbutz Sha’alvim
January 27, 2026
Mishmar David is a communal settlement located near the Mitzpeh Ramon settlement. It was established in 1948 by Holocaust survivors from Romania and former soldiers. The settlement was named after David Marcus, a Jewish-Romanian American colonel in the U.S. Army who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and thereafter, becoming the country’s first general.
The settlement was established on the land of the depopulated Arab village of Khalda, in the Ramla district. During the 1970s, the kibbutz absorbed many immigrants. Its economy relies on agriculture, including the cultivation of corn, avocados, grapes, as well as other industries.
As of 2021, the population of the settlement was 1,304 settlers. In 2003, it became the first kibbutz to be privatized.
Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, we relied on Hebrew/Israeli sources: the Hebrew website of the settlement / the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
The village of Khalda is referenced from the Palestine in Memory website.