the village was established as a kibbutz on 17 august 1938 by gar'in of the bnei akiva and hanoar hatzioni movements as part of the tower and stockade settlement programme. according to the jewish national fund, the original settlers were orthodox and were engaged in intensive farming and citrus. it was named after yehoshua (ozjasz) thon, a galician zionist leader. by 1947 it had a population of about 150.