Negev Pioneers Site – Ruhama

The Pioneers Site holds the history of Jewish settlement in the Negev in the new era and the People’s might in difficult situations and its insistence not to give up our right over the Land. In 1912 the Ruha Farm was established on the desert Ruhama lands; young pioneers from Russia came to the site, worked, dug a well and planted trees. Until 1936 three attempts were made to settle the area and live off agriculture, but none of these succeeded. The Turks were involved in the dissolution of the first settlement, the English harassed the second one and the third was harmed by Bedouins, until it was finally abandoned. The site was damaged by the desert climate and natural disasters. A group of “Hashomer Hatzair” arrived in 1944, and a flourishing settlement has existed here ever since. During the War of Independence the place was used by the Palmach as a base.

What’s at the site: an open area next to kibbutz fence. The Pioneers Site contains the original well, dug in 1913, a building from the days of the Palmach, a display of tools from different periods of the kibbutz’s history, picnic tables and toilets.

The site is accessible for disabled visitors and very shaded.

For the general public: pre-coordinated tours. Additional tours of the Ruhama area: Byzantine antiques, a mosaic, the story of the Pioneers Site and the water issue.

For children: the story of the site at the Pioneers Site and a game of “seek history” for elementary school children, also activity with colouring sheets. Admission fee and advance coordination are required.