The Rose-Story

In 1964, sitting on the concrete step in front of our barrack at the far end of the village, the idea for the rose industry was born during a discussion late in the evening between Gaby Sommerfeld, Shlomo Bezek and me. Shlomo was then our big support and helper. He had an impressive capacity of being able to put things into perspective, by remembering and reminding us of his own early experiments during the establishment of two kibbutzim (Beit HaShita and Ayeleth HaShachar). This was of great help from time to time. Gaby Sommerfeld was the agricultural advisor of Yad Nathan. Because of his work he was well acquainted with the problems Israeli flower growers faced in trying to cultivate flowers. And then, the export of flowers had still to be developed.

[Remark: President of Israel, Yitzchak Navon told us during his visit at Nes Ammim that to receive the first Ambassador to Israel they wanted it to be a very festive reception at Ben Gurion Airport and they bought a bouquet of roses in Cyprus for the occasion, as in 1948 in the whole of Israel there were no flowers of good quality to be found!]

Israels Präsident Itzhak Navon und Johan Pilon in Nes Ammim.

Discussing these kind of things we came to the idea of a flower industry in glasshouses at Nes Ammim, which would at the same time open up markets abroad through our own export to the flower auction of Aalsmeer. In this way, a modest project would fulfil a “pilot-function” for the developing Israeli flower industry, in particular that of the Israeli rose industry.
Excited as we were, already the next day a letter was sent to the Dutch Board with the proposal as we had worked it out the previous night. Was not this a project perfectly suitable in the Nes Ammim philosophy: a new horticultural technology and the development of export channels for Israeli roses. A unique possibility indeed! But… after three weeks no reaction from the Board. A second letter followed. We waited for another month for an answer which did not arrive: “Could there come anything good from Nes Ammim?” they must have thought. Then Gaby and I played a trick, which had immediate success! I got paper with an official letterhead in Hebrew letters – probably the letterhead of the Agricultural Information Service Yad Nathan. I formulated the proposal again, in English, and Gaby Sommerfeld signed the letter. This made such an impression that we had their reaction within a week, telling us that the proposal had been accepted.

A rose cultivator arrived, rose slips were bought and the glasshouses have been built and this has had an enormous effect of knowledge spreading in Israel. Therefore I am still glad that I have written letter after letter after letter and pushed it through. I am absolutely convinced that the rose industry in Nes Ammim and the opening up of export channels have meant a tremendous impulse for the flower industry in Israel in general, even to the point that today, after the export of Israeli citrus, the export of flowers has become the largest agricultural export article of the State of Israel.

	Die Rosenzucht in Nes Ammim wurde zur Größten im Nahen Osten. Im Jahre 2000 musste Nes Ammim die Rosenindustrie schließen. Ein emotionale Entscheidung, denn die Rosen gehörten zur Identität des Dorfes. Der finanzieller Druck hatte diesen Schritt erzwungen.

Much satisfaction we experienced from the invitation we got in early 1965 from the District Council of Ga'aton to attend their meeting of March 2^nd. And so I was able to represent Nes Ammim as a recognised settlement in the Ga'aton District from that memorable date of March 2^nd, 1965 on. This invitation is indeed a historical document. For on this one goal we all agreed from the very beginning, and that is to seek recognition from the neighbouring kibbutzim and acceptance by the neighbouring Jewish and Arab settlements.

To give an impression of those conditions I will sum it all up by some figures which will illustrate the situation of Nes Ammim at the end of November 1964: four barracks, in which lived 21 persons. The year had started without them, and in November there was 12,62 Israeli pounds (around $ 4.-) in cash and 12,589.56 Israeli pounds (around $4000.-) in the bank.