Ein Gev

Ein Gev occupies a narrow strip between Lake Kinneret and the rim of the Golan Plateau, below Mount Susita.[1] It belongs to the Jordan Valley Regional Council and combines a residential kibbutz community with fishing, agricultural, and tourism enterprises.[4][5] Its position on the eastern lakeshore shaped both its economic development and its history of exposure to Syrian military positions above and north of the settlement.[1]

The kibbutz lies opposite Tiberias, across the lake.[3] In its early years, it could be reached from Tiberias only by boat, a circumstance that heightened its vulnerability during attacks.[1] Its name, meaning “Waterhole Spring,” is a Hebrew rendering of the Arabic site name Nuqayb.[1]

Most reference accounts date Ein Gev’s establishment as a tower-and-stockade settlement to 1937, although one historical visitor guide gives 1936.[1][3] Its founding group included pioneers from Germany, Austria, and the Baltic countries who had previously worked at Kinneret.[1] Teddy Kollek, who had immigrated to Palestine in 1934, helped establish the kibbutz before illness led him to move to Jerusalem to recover.[2] Another founder was Reuven Dafni, who arrived in Palestine in 1936.[6]

Photographs dated between 1934 and 1939 preserve views of the settlement and its early residents: one shows Ein Gev with the Sea of Galilee behind it, while another identifies Kollek standing second from the right among a group of settlers.[7][8] The group photograph also identifies Mordechay, or Mordi, Shai, seated in the second row on the right behind a woman.[8] A further photograph from the same date range shows settlers inspecting rifles at the kibbutz armory.[9]

The community experienced frequent attacks during the Arab riots before World War II.[1] During the war, Dafni served in the British Army and participated in a mission to help rescue Jews in occupied Europe; he subsequently returned to Ein Gev before entering Israel’s diplomatic service.[6] He later served as deputy chairman of Yad Vashem’s Directorate from 1982 to 1995.[6]

In 1945, the kibbutz added a sentence to the Haggadah passage “Pour out Thy wrath upon the gentiles.”[10] The addition described Holocaust survivors resolving “no longer to be in the shadow of the gentiles” and setting their sights on “the land of the Patriarchs that is being reborn.”[10]

During the 1948 War of Independence, Ein Gev was the only Jewish kibbutz on the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret.[11] Syrian forces began shelling the community after Israel declared independence on May 14, and made three attempts to capture it from their base at Sussita, the hill directly above the kibbutz.[12] The settlement was isolated and repulsed a severe Syrian air and artillery attack.[1]

On June 10, Ein Gev fought off a heavy attack; it was attacked again the following day despite the truce, and the cease-fire in that sector took effect on June 12.[11] The defenders repelled Syrian forces despite their superiority in men and weapons.[13] On the night of July 17, settlers and Israeli soldiers climbed to Sussita and captured the mountain.[12][14]

An Israel Defense Forces forward position was established at Susita and remained in use until the Six-Day War in 1967.[14] In 1948, Lieutenant Colonel David Laskov built a cableway to carry supplies from Ein Gev to the soldiers stationed on the hill; remains of it survive at the ancient city.[14]

The Israel–Syria General Armistice Agreement, signed on July 20, 1949, specified that the Ein Gev and Dardara sectors were to form part of a demilitarized zone.[15] Article V defined the zone’s purposes as separating the armed forces, minimizing friction and incidents, and permitting the gradual restoration of normal civilian life, without prejudice to an ultimate settlement.[15] A 1958 map of the Ein Gev–Nuqeib, Samra, Samakh, and Hamma area depicted the Armistice Demarcation Line, the demilitarized-zone boundary, village and block boundaries, and land ownership as of May 15, 1948.[16]

After the armistice, Ein Gev remained exposed to Syrian positions on the Golan rim and on land to its north, held by Syria until the 1967 Six-Day War.[1] At Nukeib, north of the kibbutz, a Syrian fortified position periodically fired on Israeli fishermen and patrol boats.[17] During a Hanukka incident in the mid-1950s, Syrian artillery fired at a patrol vessel, and Ein Gev residents spent the holiday in underground shelters while shells landed nearby.[17] On one day during the period between 1948 and 1967, more than 300 shells were fired at the kibbutz.[18]

Writing about the 1967 crisis, Uri Bar-Joseph identifies Ein Gev, Tel Katzir, and Ha’on as among the kibbutzim that suffered most from Syrian fire, and notes that all three were affiliated with Mapai rather than Achdut Ha-avoda.[19] A November 1958 address to a United Jewish Appeal study mission similarly presented Ein Gev as an example of the role of border residents in Israel’s security, emphasizing civilian settlement alongside the army.[20]

On the evening of January 30, 2024, three rockets fired from Syrian territory landed in open areas near Ein Gev and Kfar Haruv.[21] The IDF responded with artillery fire at the sources of the launches.[21]

Ein Gev had a population of 521 in 2002.[1] In 2021, approximately 600 people lived there, including 200 kibbutz members, and the kibbutz had been privatized.[5] Ein Gev was also included among privatized lakeside kibbutzim whose residential extensions were not open to the general public at the time of publication.[22]

Fishing and tourism developed early in Ein Gev’s history, with operations including a holiday resort, a fish restaurant, and sailing boats.[1] Its settlers were described as the first modern Jewish fishermen to cast nets in the Kinneret.[3] The kibbutz combined lake and fish-pond fishing with bananas, vegetables, grapes, and cattle raising.[3] Other documented agricultural activities included dairy farming and ostrich breeding.[1]

Matti Friedman places Ein Gev among the Labor Zionist fishing collectives, alongside Sdot Yam on the Mediterranean and Hulata on Lake Hula, and notes that young members of such communities later played important roles in the naval branches of the Jewish military underground, including the Palyam.[23]

Fishing and tourism were Ein Gev’s principal sources of income.[4] By 2021, its economic base centered on tourism and agriculture.[5] The kibbutz owned the Ein Gev holiday village, situated along the lakeshore about 1.5 kilometers from the community.[5] In 2019, the holiday village recorded 80 percent annual occupancy and 120,000 overnight stays.[5] Tourism income was also important to Ein Gev within the broader kibbutz tourism industry.[24]

The first Ein Gev Festival took place during Passover in 1943, when members created a stage for local talent and entertainment for residents of the area.[25] Initially a classical-music festival, the annual event changed direction following the early-1970s production “Nikhotei Hayir,” or “Hay Scents,” and became dedicated to Hebrew song.[26] It is among Israel’s oldest music festivals.[27]

The festival hosted Daniel Barenboim on April 17, 1965, as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Carlo Maria Giulini.[28] Marlene Dietrich also performed at the festival after arriving in Israel in February 1966 despite calls in Germany and Poland to boycott her appearance.[28] A 2,500-seat concert hall was built at Ein Gev, and the festival continued to be associated with the Passover season.[1]

Ein Gev Harbor is a center for lakeside visitor activities.[4] Fishing-boat outings allow visitors to watch fishermen at work and learn about their tools and methods; other activities have included lake cruises, kibbutz mini-train tours, and a children’s carpentry workshop.[4] The kibbutz boardwalk was dedicated to Teddy Kollek.[29]

The House of Anchors, also called the Anchor House, is a fishing museum on the Kinneret shore. Its displays trace fishing in the Sea of Galilee from biblical times to the present and include stone and iron anchors, weights, and several kinds of fishing nets.[4] It was established by a veteran fisherman and kibbutz member.[30]

The Ein Gev Sea Shore Restaurant was known for St. Peter’s fish, called amnon in Hebrew.[3] Other attractions included the large concert hall and sports events. A mother-and-child statue behind the concert hall commemorated those who held out against Syrian forces during the War of Independence.[3]

Nearby Susita, also known as Sussita or Hippos, is an archaeological site above the kibbutz.[1][12] Its remains include evidence of the military connection with Ein Gev, notably the cableway that once supplied the Israeli position on the hill.[14]