Biranit
Biranit (Hebrew: בירנית, lit. small fortress) is a military camp and former kibbutz in northern Israel on the border with Lebanon.[1] It is the headquarters of the Galilee Division of the Israel Defense Forces, and is located around a kilometre from the Lebanese border between Sasa and Netu'a.
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History
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It is located on the land of the Palestinian village of Al-Mansura, which was depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[2]
Biranit was planned as the hub of a group of settlements established by the Central Galilee Development Project in the 1960s.[1] In December 1964 a Nahal group affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz HaMeuhad settled there.[1] Its first tasks were land reclamation, afforestation, and restoration of ancient woodlands, planting of fruit orchards, road building, and other development work.[1][3][4] Over time the settlement was abandoned, and it became a military camp.[1]
In the 1970s a number of Katyusha rockets were fired at Biranit from Lebanese territory.[5] On July 14, 2006, the base was hit by Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War.
Notable residents
- Andre Spitzer (1945–1972), Israeli Olympic fencing coach killed in the Munich Massacre[6]
References
- "Biranit"
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, p. 24, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Israel Government Year Book - Israel. Merkaz ha-hasbarah
- ישראל שנתון הממשלה -
- "Terrorist Base Shelled" | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- Munich Memoir - Dan Alon, Carla Stockton