Mishmar David
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Mishmar David מִשְׁמַר דָּוִד |
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 Mishmar David
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| Coordinates: 31°49′21.72″N 34°54′7.92″E / 31.8227000°N 34.9022000°ECoordinates: 31°49′21.72″N 34°54′7.92″E / 31.8227000°N 34.9022000°E | |
| District | Central |
| Council | Gezer |
| Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Founded by | Romanian immigrants |
| Population (2015) | 700 |
Mishmar David (Hebrew: מִשְׁמַר דָּוִד, lit. David's Guard) is a community settlement in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah near Mazkeret Batya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council. In 2015 it had a population of 700. In 2003 it became the first kibbutz to be privatised.
The village was founded as a kibbutz in 1948 by Holocaust survivors from Romania and former soldiers, and was named after David Marcus, a United States Army colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and later became the country's first general. It was established near the depopulated Arab village of Khulda. During the 1970s the kibbutz absorbed several immigrants from the United Kingdom. Its economy was based on growing maize, avocados and grapes, as well as a printing press.
The communal lifestyle was diminishing by the 1990s; the kibbutz's dining hall closed in 1994, and in 1999 the system of being paid according to needs was abolished. In 2003, following a vote of 50 in favour and only one against, it was converted to a community settlement, the first kibbutz to do so. The kibbutz had debts of £18 million, and would sell a chunk of land to build 350 new homes, whilst the rest of the land was returned to the state. Each kibbutz member was given shares in the printing press business.
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