Initially established in 1968 as a Nahal settlement by the Betar movement,[5][6] Argaman was converted to a civilian moshav in May 1971.[7] Prior to the establishment of Argaman, Moshe Dayan, then Israeli Minister of Defense, was opposed to the installment of settlements in the center of the Jordan Rift Valley as it would show too explicitly that the Palestinian Arabs of the West Bank were being separated from the Arabs east of the Jordan River.[8]