Mitzpe Shalem

Mitzpe Shalem (Hebrew: מִצְפֵּה שָׁלֵם, lit. Shalem Lookout) is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz located about 1 km from the western shores of the Dead Sea in the eastern West Bank. It is the southernmost community in the Megilot Regional Council and is located near Highway 90 about 21 kilometres (13 mi) north of Ein Gedi and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Green Line.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

The community was founded in 1970 as a Nahal settlement on land in the West Bank that Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War. It was inhabited as a kibbutz in the Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim in 1976.

Today it is a "renewed kibbutz" having undergone privatization and is considered a cooperative community, thus no longer belonging to the Kibbutz Movement. It was named after Natan Shalem who investigated the Judean Desert, where the kibbutz is located. As of 2007, the population is about 200 people, of which 59 are official members. Approximately 90 percent of the population, aging from infancy to 50, speaks English.