Editing Mitzpe Ramon (section)

==History==
[[File:Mitzpe 1957.jpg|thumb|left|Mitzpe Ramon in 1957]]
Mitzpe Ramon was founded in 1951 as a camp for the workers building [[Highway 40 (Israel)|Highway 40]].<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/the-magic-of-mitzpe-ramon-688904 The magic of Mitzpe Ramon], ''[[Jerusalem Post]]''</ref> The town's first permanent residents, several young families from Kibbutz [[Re'im]] and other parts of Israel began settling there in 1956. After five years, the town was home to 370 residents including 160 children, most of them veteran Israelis. There were also 180 housing units to absorb new immigrants<ref>{{Cite web |title=חמש שנים למצפה־רמון⁩ {{!}} ⁨דבר⁩ {{!}} 16 יוני 1961 {{!}} אוסף העיתונות {{!}} הספרייה הלאומית |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dav/1961/06/16/01/article/140 |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=www.nli.org.il |language=he}}</ref> They were joined by immigrants from North Africa, Romania, and India in the 1960s, and it became the southernmost of the Negev's [[development town]]s.

Conditions in the early years were harsh, with limited food supplies and practically no modern-day amenities. Ice blocks and provisions were delivered once a week by a supply truck. There was a single school with one classroom for all ages. The homes of the first settlers were prefabricated asbestos barracks. Later, rows of small attached stone houses were built and after that, apartment buildings, beginning in the early 1960s.

On April 29, 1964, a [[Nord Noratlas|Nord 2501D Noratlas]] (4X-FAD/044) of the [[Israeli Air Force|IAF]] crashed into a mountain near Mitzpe Ramon, killing all nine on board, including pilots Hagay Gilboa and Shlomo Tzlil. The crash is currently Israel's deadliest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ASN Aircraft accident Nord 2501D Noratlas 4X-FAD/044 Mitzpe Ramon |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19640429-1 |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=aviation-safety.net}}</ref>

In 1972, Mitzpe Ramon had a population of about 1,400 people living in 300 households. The town further grew after [[Ramon Airbase]] was completed in 1982. In 1988, the town had a population of about 3,000, and it experienced more significant population growth when it absorbed Soviet immigrants during the [[1990s post-Soviet aliyah]].