 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Nahal settlement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
.jpg)
Nahal settlements (Hebrew:היאחזות נח"ל,romanized: Heahzut Nahal) are Israeli settlements established by Israeli soldiers ofNahal in bothIsrael and theIsraeli-occupied territories.
Supporting the growth and expansion ofIsraeli Jews was once the main focus of Nahal troops of theIsrael Defense Forces and was primarily carried out through theGarin program.[1] The goal of Nahal settlement was to provide a base of operations and resources for Israeli troops along the border.[2]
This method of encouraging settlement was particularly effective in regions of Israel that were less desirable for human habitation (mainly theNegev, theGalilee, and theAravah) between 1948 and 1967. After the1967 Arab–Israeli War, Nahal settlements were established in the newlyIsraeli-occupied territories (theJordanian-annexed West Bank and theEgyptian-occupied Gaza Strip, and theSyrian Golan Heights and theEgyptian Sinai Peninsula) in pursuit of similar goals.
The first such settlement wasNahal Oz, located in the northwestern Negev in Israel, near theGaza–Israel border.