The RESTAURANT Habait, El-Beit, Home

The restaurant is the first public building in Ein Hawd. It is the first step towards the economic independence of the village, and currently the only main employment center. Most of the women of the village who were unemployed started working for the restaurant, cooking and serving. For some of these women it is their first real job.

The restaurant has been voted ‘second-best restaurant’ in the country. The success of the restaurant, however, is not just an economic success; with the announcement of the vote on prime time, it was the first chance for the villagers, till then virtually unknown, to be acknowledged by the Israelis. It was the first time they could tell their story, their rich cultural history and their tragedy, not by words but by their local dishes and by being hospitable to the many visitors who took the winding, potholed, path up the mountain.

The long-term development strategy

Tourists from all over the country come to eat in the restaurant and then discover the gorgeous landscape, the charming hospitality but also the sounds of the generators that supply electricity to the village, the lack of infrastructure such as road and parking spaces, the lack of water, public transportation etc.. The photos of the villagers’ old homes are hung on the wall but can also be observed through the window; their old village that is now colonized by a group of artists who fell in love in someone else’s homes.