Kfar Maimon

Kfar Maimon is situated in the northwestern Negev, roughly five kilometers from the town of Netivot.[2] Administratively, it falls within the Sdot Negev Regional Council, in Israel's Southern District and Beersheba Subdistrict.[1]

Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics assigns the locality code 1095 to the moshav and transliterates its name as "Kefar Maymon."[1]

Kfar Maimon was established in the 1950s, although sources give different founding years. An Encyclopedia.com reference table lists 1956, while Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics records 1959.[3][1]

Menachem Frenkel and his wife were among the community's founders. Frenkel completed his studies in 1955, joined the Nahal Brigade, married in 1957, and later worked as a marketer and agricultural consultant specializing in watering systems.[6]

Kfar Maimon drew national attention in July 2005, when it became the focal point of mass opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw Israeli forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip. Settlers and supporters set out from Netivot intending to march toward Gush Katif, but security forces stopped them at Kfar Maimon, where a standoff lasting two to three days followed.[7][5]

Estimates of the crowd's size varied. INSS analyst Meir Elran placed the number at tens of thousands on July 25, 2005.[4] A retrospective account in The Jerusalem Post estimated that approximately 70,000 people joined the march, although it did not disclose a methodology for that estimate.[7] At one point, between 10,000 and 15,000 activists were reported to be staying in the moshav, using residents' gardens for shade and seeking shelter from the summer heat in local homes.[8]

Organizers worked to keep the demonstration peaceful, using loudspeakers to urge participants that only peaceful means should be used.[5] After the standoff, approximately 250 opponents who had left Kfar Maimon and tried to enter the Gaza Strip were arrested on suspicion of entering a closed military zone and violating a commander's order. Police said some had attempted to cut the perimeter fence.[9] Yesha Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman claimed that roughly 1,000 people had nonetheless reached Gush Katif while the main crowd remained at Kfar Maimon.[9] Roughly half a dozen participants were arrested for minor scuffling during the main march.[5]

The protest also disrupted the lives of Kfar Maimon's residents. A petition filed on behalf of 300 families alleged that police restrictions impeded residents' work and farming, damaged crops and greenhouses, and blocked deliveries.[10]

Elran characterized the gathering as "the last sizable physical standoff" between disengagement opponents and security forces that still had a potential chance of reversing the disengagement's course.[4] He wrote that active support for settlers during the evacuation came predominantly from the religious Zionist camp, while most National Religious Party voters stayed home even during the Kfar Maimon protest.[4] After the disengagement was completed, 37.8 percent of the Israeli public and 41.3 percent of the Jewish public remained opposed to it.[4]

An Israel Radio poll dated July 27, 2005, asked Israelis who had won the confrontation at Kfar Maimon. Respondents named the security forces (47.6 percent), the disengagement opponents (34.1 percent), or gave another answer (18.3 percent).[11]

A month after the disengagement, Gush Katif evacuees gathered near the Kissufim crossing and walked to Kfar Maimon. The moshav hosted a screening documenting the evacuees' journey, a display of family names and photographs of synagogues, and a remembrance ceremony in which Kfar Maimon residents lit torches.[12]

Kfar Maimon had approximately 213 residents at the end of 2004.[3] Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics recorded 438 residents in 2022, including 438 Jews.[1] The two available figures indicate that the moshav's population more than doubled over that period.[3][1]

A cultural feature documented in 2009 was an art café at the entrance to the moshav. The café was distinguished by figurative iron sculptures created by local artist Matti Orlov.[2]

In 2018, Kfar Maimon was among five sites selected for solar installations developed by EDF Renewables. The Kfar Maimon facility was listed at a capacity of 6.7 megawatts. Across the five projects, more than 307,000 panels were installed over approximately 1,300 dunams, with a combined reported investment of roughly NIS 300 million.[13]

The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry lists one cemetery in Kfar Maimon, containing records for 71 burials and 71 accompanying photographs. The registry states that the data went online on December 30, 2023.[14]

Kfar Maimon's location in the Sdot Negev region has exposed it to security incidents connected to Gaza. A January 2019 report said that about two weeks earlier, a cluster of approximately ten balloons carrying an explosive device had landed near the fence of a kindergarten in the moshav. Police responded and neutralized the device.[15]

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, residents of several Sdot Negev communities were evacuated to hotels. Kfar Maimon was among the localities—along with Shokeda, Tkuma, and Shuva—whose residents returned home in early 2024 after the Home Front Command chief called on them to return. Some communities were already more than 80 percent repopulated, although schools remained closed because Southern Command had not authorized their reopening amid the ongoing fighting.[16]

In 2024, Shifra Tzur-Arie, a Kfar Maimon resident and activist in the Otef Israel forum, said, "I don't want money; I want security." She also described her concern that her 18-year-old daughter did not want to sleep in a protected room.[17]