Dimona (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Dimona (Hebrew: ) is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, 36 kilometres (22 mi) to the south of Beersheba and 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. Its population at the end of 2007 was 33,600. The town is famous for being the near the site of the Negev Nuclear Research Center, which is suspected of producing atomic bombs. The city's name is derived from a biblical town, mentioned in Joshua 15:21-22. The Municipality of Dimona was one of the development towns that were created in the 1950s with the leadership of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. Dimona itself was conceived in 1953, and settled in 1955, mostly by new immigrants from Northern Africa, who also constructed the city's houses. The emblem of Dimona (as a local council), adopted 2 March 1961, appeared on a stamp issued on 24 March 1965.