A government body has approved the changeover of 93-year-old Kibbutz Ayelet HaShachar, located in the Upper Galilee, to a moshav. The step puts the last nail in the coffin of the kibbutz, which for all intents and purposes ceased being a cooperative community years ago. It was the first kibbutz to allow members to set up private bank accounts.

Every kibbutz family will receive a quarter of an acre for housing and an equal amount for business purposes. Environmentalists succeeded in defeating attempts to give each family a larger area. The status of two other kibbutzim, located in the Golan Heights and in the western Galilee, also has been changed to moshavim.