Israel: What’s left of the utopian ideal of the kibbutz?
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In 1909, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, fueled by Zionist and socialist ideas, founded the first kibbutz on the shores of Lake Tiberias in Palestine. Few would have imagined that 40 years later more than 70,000 people would have joined their community-based movement of mutual aid and unity. Today, the kibbutz forms a central part of the Jewish settlements and the State of Israel but its nature has changed over the years. With some kibbutzes privatised, converted into holiday centres or start-up incubators, FRANCE 24 looks at what remains of the original ideal.