MISGAV AM (Heb. מִשְׂגַּב עַם; "Stronghold of the People"), kibbutz on the Naphtali Ridge, on the Israel-Lebanese-border, affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad. Its establishment in 1945 by a group of Ha-No'ar ha-Oved youth 2,770 ft. (840 m.) above sea level, and accessible only by steep footpaths, was a daring undertaking. In the Israel War of Independence (1948), Misgav Am was for many months completely isolated but served eventually as a base for Israel forces in Operation Ḥiram. In 1980 five terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz, killing the kibbutz secretary and an infant and wounding four more children before being stopped by the army. In 1969 the kibbutz cultivated the hilly terrain in its vicinity and also had fields and orchards in the Ḥuleh Valley below. Subsequently it manufactured surgical dressings. In the mid-1990s, the population was approximately 280, declining to 236 in 2002.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.
