Three lookouts

The three lookouts (Hebrew: שלושת המצפים‎, Shloshet HaMitzpim, also Mitzpot) were three Jewish settlements built in the Negev desert in 1943 on land owned by the Jewish National Fund. The goal was securing the land and assessing its feasibility for agriculture. The founding was preceded by a complex land purchase procedure, as the British authorities had practically prohibited Jewish land acquisition in the area following the costly Arab Revolt and the subsequent White Paper of 1939.

These lookouts, Revivim, Gvulot, and Beit Eshel, later served as a springboard for further Jewish population of the Negev. The residents of the lookouts made extensive geophysical surveys and conducted agricultural experiments for this purpose.

The British White Paper of 1939 and the 1940 Land Transfer Regulations placed a number of restrictions on Jewish settlement and land purchase in the Mandate for Palestine. The Negev desert was one of the areas where both were forbidden. On the other hand, World War II had broken out and the Yishuv sought to broaden its areas of settlement in order to have greater capacity to house Jewish refugees from Europe.

In general, the Yishuv, which was vehemently opposed to the White Paper, was interested in settling the Negev and conducting geological and hydrological surveys there. It also wished to test the British reaction to such a move. On April 29, 1942, a number of Yishuv notables, including Arthur Rupin, Eliezer Kaplan and Yosef Weitz, toured the area to determine its adequacy for settlement. While Rupin and Kaplan proposed creating a number of agricultural settlements in the area, Weitz rejected the idea and recommended the construction of three outposts—in the areas of Rafah, Beersheba and Bir 'Asluj—that would each be located on a different type of soil and help determine the suitability of the surrounding area for agriculture and habitation.

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