Milestones

1948-1956
The beginning of Omer's Jewish settlement
a year to the "new" Omer.

1948
At the end of the Independence War the Negev Brigade fighters founded Kibbutz Hevrona.
The settlers hold on to a hill on which the remains of an ancient Byzantine settlement had been found.
The hill was called "El Omri" by the local Bedouins, the name from which "Omer" is derived. The Kibbutz did not survive and was abandoned on the same year.

1950
The same year, the settlement changed its nature evolving into a settlement comprising 23 families, partly from Hungary and Romania, who tried their fortune there. The group relocated from the area on which today's Omer Industrial Park stands to the site of present-day Omer. The attempt to maintain the settlement failed once again.

1957
The area is settled by newcomers from North Africa. They establish a settlement and make their living by the raising poultry and cattle. The settlement survives 3 years, and is then abandoned.

1960
The settlement is wired to the central electricity network.

1961
A new group of settlers, most of them Beer-Sheva residents, tries to establish a new settlement. Part of the settlers make their living from agriculture, and part work in the surrounding settlements and plants. The settlement continues to survive in this form,, while the agricultural activity languishes.

1963
A well is drilled in the settlement, and running water is at last available.

1964
"Rasko" builds 35 new houses in a new neighborhood.

1964-1967
100 families join Omer.

1965
The settlement has a new committee, within the Bnei Shimon's local council. The head of the committee is Bezalel Gabar.

1975
The settlement is made a local council: Bezalel Gabar is elected as head of the council.

1976
The Omer commercial center's cornerstone is laid.

Bezalel Gabar