YAD MORDECHAI

The spirit of Israel and the Jews is synthesized at this remarkable kibbutz founded in 1943 and named in honour of Mordechai Anilewicz, who died fighting the Nazis while commander of the Jewish Fighters' Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The first signpost within the kibbutz leads to a giant statue of Anilewicz clutching a grenade. It is set on a hilltop in front of the dislodged water tower that was shelled during the Egyptian attack in 1948.

The second signpost takes you to another hill which overlooks the reconstructed scene of bitter fighting during the War of Independence. Life-sized, blackened cut-outs with helmets and rifles represent the advancing Egyptians, reinforced with tanks set around the hill. Obsolete weapons of the defenders are in position in slit trenches on the hill. Recorded explanations of the battle, the retreat of the heavily outnumbered Israelis, and the eventual recapture of the kibbutz six months later, are given in all major languages. Open: Sun. - Thurs. (summer) 8 a.m. - dusk. Fri. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat. all day. Tel. (07)720529. Entrance fee includes visit to the museum.

Visit the museum in the kibbutz devoted to pictorial and weapons displays showing the kibbutz under fire and European Jewry under the Nazis. The haunting music and laments follow you around as you tread the cobbled floor in the darkened interior, coming face to face with a simple inscription: ``There were one and a half million children.''

You could also visit the House of the Bee and Honey. Tel. (07)720559.

From Yad Mordechai continue straight for Beer Sheva, via Netivot (on Roads 34 and 25).

Twenty kilometres after leaving Yad Mordechai on Road No. 34, travelling southeast, you reach Netivot on your right. It is well worth taking a few minutes to drive round this embryonic settlement as it is a sterling example of how the arid Negev is being brought to life.

Continue towards Beer Sheva on Road No. 25, noticing how, in spite of the parched, cracked earth, fields have been cultivated. The Sharsheret Forest appears like a mirage in this landscape. Cross Nahal Gerar, turn right at the Gilat crossroad. Fifteen kilometers later (on Road No. 241, after passing Ofakim) you get to the Eshkol national park, an oasis in the middle of the Negev. Return to Road No. 25 and as you drive towards Beer Sheva the first large turnoff to the left will take you to Rahat, the first Bedouin city and a centre of the Bedouin heritage. (Tel. (07)918263). Back on Road No. 25, continue past a tree nursery of the Jewish National Fund, avoiding the turn-off to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. You are now 12 km. from Beer Sheva.