Israeli history teaches us time and again that the borders of the State of Israel are determined in the plowing of the field furrows.
Today, 75 years ago, on the morning of July 27, 1951, about 100 young people established a settlement in the abandoned fields of old Be’erot Yitzhak, just a few hundred meters from the eastern side of the Gaza Strip. They called themselves “Nahla’im A”, which later became Kibbutz Nahal Oz the first of hundreds of Nahal outposts across the country that shaped the security map of the young state.
Out of an active Zionist approach, the members of Nahal Oz did not just defend the border; they defined it. Facing the threatening shadow of the Strip, a thriving dairy farm grew, and the fields were cultivated to the very last meter. This was not just agriculture; it was a national security strategy guided by Yosef Trumpeldor:
“Where the Jewish plow plows the last furrow, there our border shall pass.”
Holding the scythe in one hand and the sword in the other exacted a heavy price. In the 1950s, the kibbutz suffered from constant terrorist activity, landmines, and infiltrations by infiltrators (Fedayeen) who stole agricultural crops. On the morning of April 29, 1956, the kibbutz commander, 21-year-old Ro’i Rothberg, rode his horse to the kibbutz fields to drive away infiltrators who were harvesting the crops. A planned ambush awaited him there, in which a Palestinian policeman, a fellah, an officer, and two Egyptian soldiers participated. They shot Rothberg, dragged his body across the border into the Gaza Strip, and abused it.
Over his open grave, then-Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan delivered one of the foundational and sobering speeches in Zionist history, a eulogy that defined the reality of our lives in this land:
“We must reckon with ourselves today… Let us not hurl accusations at the murderers… We are a generation of settlement, and without the steel helmet and the cannon’s mouth, we will not be able to plant a tree or build a home.”
Decades later, the kibbutz paid another painful price with the murder of the boy Daniel Tregerman towards the end of Operation “Protective Edge.” But the waves of bereavement did not break the spirit. Today, the kibbutz already numbers about one hundred and twenty families, alongside a pre-military academy and bustling educational institutions that serve as a home for young families from all sectors of Israeli society.
On the morning of Black Saturday, October 7, 2023, Nahal Oz’s security concept faced the ultimate blood test. Hamas terrorists raided the kibbutz and massacred its residents. The residents and fighters on site tried to fight the murderers with all their strength, but in the battles at the kibbutz and the nearby outpost, dozens were murdered, many were injured, and others were kidnapped to Gaza. The settlement was completely evacuated, and its members were scattered across the country, but the decision to return was clear from the very beginning.
The months that have passed since the severe tragedy are not just a story of destruction, but a glorious chapter of revival. Through painstaking work, amidst heavy mourning but with heads held high, an ongoing restoration began of the homes, institutions, gardens, and above all, the community.
Today, out of the ashes and loss, Nahal Oz is coming back to life. The tractors are once again taking to the land, and the fields are being plowed again right up to the border line.
Nahal Oz gave the most decisive Zionist answer to our enemies: to continue to plow, plant, build, and live, according to the kibbutz motto: “To the last furrow.”
The author is the Vice Chairman of the Security Policy Institute of the ‘Habithonistim’ (IDSF) movement, and previously served as a policy advisor to the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer.