Kalya | |
|---|---|
 Kibbutz Kalya | |
  Kalya | |
| Coordinates:31°44′55″N35°27′58″E / 31.74861°N 35.46611°E /31.74861; 35.46611 | |
| District | Judea and Samaria Area |
| Council | Megilot |
| Region | West Bank |
| Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
| Founded | 1929 (original) 1968 (current) |
| Founded by | Dead Sea Works employees |
| Population (2022) | 490[1] |
| Website | www.kalia.org.il |
Kalya (Hebrew:קַלְיָה) is anIsraeli settlement organized as akibbutz in theWest Bank. It was originally established in 1929 but was occupied and destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948; it was later rebuilt in 1968 after theSix-Day War. Located on the northern shore of theDead Sea, 360 meters below sea level,[2] it falls under the jurisdiction ofMegilot Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 490.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bankillegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.[3]
The nameKalya is derived fromkalium, theLatin name forpotassium, a chemical found in abundance in the region. Kalya is also a Hebrew acronym for "קם לתחייה ים המוות" (Kam Litkhiya Yam HaMavet), literally, the Dead Sea has returned to life.[2]
The kibbutz was first established during theBritish Mandate era.Moshe Novomeysky, a Jewish engineer from Siberia, won the British governmenttender forpotash mining on the Dead Sea's northern shore, the marshland surrounding the plant was drained and housing was built to accommodate employees of thePalestine Potash Company. The company, chartered in 1929, set up its first plant on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya and produced potash, or potassium chloride, by solar evaporation of the brine. It employed both Arabs and Jews.[4]
Kalya was spared violence in the1936–39 Arab revolt[5] due to good relations with the Arabs; the plant employed many Arab laborers fromJericho. Despite negotiations between the kibbutz leadership andJordan'sArab Legion to preserve the kibbutz under Jordanian control at the time of the1948 Arab–Israeli War, the imprisonment of Jews in the Jordanian-heldNaharayim complex and theKfar Etzion massacre ledDavid Ben-Gurion to call for the residents' evacuation and their consolidation in the southern Dead Sea. Residents of Kalya and nearbyBeit HaArava ultimately fled by boat on 20 May 1948, and the two kibbutzim were destroyed by the Jordanians. The area remained unpopulated save a Jordanian military camp.
Following Israel's occupation of theWest Bank from Jordan in the 1967Six-Day War, Kalya was re-established as a paramilitaryNahal settlement in 1968, the first in the area. Civilians temporarily settled in the deserted Jordanian army camp in 1972 while planting the first date palms and building permanent houses. The completed homes were populated in 1974.[6]
According toARIJ, Israel expropriated 955dunums of land in 1968 from thePalestinian village ofas-Sawahira ash-Sharqiya in order to construct Kalya.[7]
Kalya has a population of 300 and depends mainly onagriculture, primarily consisting ofdairy farming and raisingdate palms, watermelons andcherry tomatoes. The kibbutz also runs theIsrael Nature and Parks Authority visitor's centre of the nearbyQumran Caves, where theDead Sea Scrolls were found. At one time, the kibbutz operated a water park.
The kibbutz serves as arest stop betweenJerusalem andEin Gedi due to its proximity to the Beit HaArava Junction betweenHighway 90 andHighway 1.
A private beach run by the kibbutz is popular with Israelis, Christian pilgrims and tourists. The wooden building near the seashore where people can drink, eat and chat is rightly calledthe lowest bar in the world (–417), some lower of the entrance one. Since the easing of travel restrictions in the West Bank and the removal of major roadblocks, Palestinians also come to swim there.[8] However, Palestinians were regularly barred from reaching any Dead Sea beaches for fear that Arab presence would cause loss of Jewish customers for establishments along the shore. This was enforced by the Israeli military at Beit Ha'arava checkpoint on Route 90.[9][10]
