GEVIM

GEVIM (Heb. גְּבִים), kibbutz in the coastal plain of Israel, 8 mi. (13 km.) E. of Gaza, affiliated with Iḥud ha-Kevuẓot veha-Kibbutzim, founded in August 1947. Gevim was one of the first links in the settlement chain extending to the south and Negev that had to defend itself against the Egyptian forces in the Israeli war of independence (a few months after its establishment). The founding members were Israeli-born and youth aliyah graduates from Central Europe. Farming included field crops, avocado plantations, poultry, and dairy cattle. However, its economic mainstay became factories producing plastics and flutes. Its population was 372 in 2002. Gevim means "Water Holes," an allusion to the first Negev water pipeline, which passes through the kibbutz. (Efraim Orni)