Balfouria () is a moshav in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, south of Nazareth. Located near

Afula Afula ( he, עפולה Arabic: العفولة) is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. As of it had a population of .

History

The initial core of settlers assembled in 1919 and began training for the establishment of an agricultural settlement. A tract of land was purchased with the funds of the American Zion Commonwealth, and

Keren Hayesod Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal ( he, קרן היסוד, literally "The Foundation Fund") is an official fundraising organization for Israel with branches in 45 countries. Its work is carried out in accordance with the Keren haYesod Law-5 ...

acquired equipment. The moshav was founded in 1922, the third to be established in Palestine, and was named after The 1st Earl of Balfour, writer of the Balfour Declaration (who consented to lending his name to the settlement), which embraced Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home". According to a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Balfouria had a population of 18 Jews. According to a

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

publication of 1949, Balfouria was the first village to be founded in Palestine after the Balfour Declaration. The founders were joined by former

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

residents, a number of people from the Co-operative in Merhavia, as well as many settlers from Petah Tikva. The houses and dairy barns built with the funds of the Commonwealth were of concrete and had shingled roofs, thus earning the settlers of Balfouria the sobriquet "the millionaires". Lord Balfour visited the moshav in 1925 and gave the settlers his blessings. In 1939, the lands of the moshav were transferred to the

and leasing agreements were signed with

. In 1934, the settlers completed the digging of a new well which increased agricultural activity in the area. In 1959, the connection with the

Mekorot Mekorot ( he, מקורות, lit. "Sources") is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management. Founded in 1937, it supplies Israel with 90% of its drinking water and operates a cross-country water supply ne ...

water company was sealed. בלפוריה - מראה-JNF007863

Balfouria nature reserve

North-east of the moshav are an ancient tell and springs - remnants of the Valley's swamps - that were declared a 45-

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

nature reserve, in 1979. Atop of the tell, a monument was erected in honor of the moshav's founders and those who fell in Israel's wars.

Sports

The local football club, Hapoel Balfouria, spent two seasons in the top division in the mid-1950s. However, they later folded.

References

{{Arthur Balfour, state=collapsed Moshavim Populated places established in 1922 Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine Nature reserves in Israel Populated places in Northern District (Israel) 1922 establishments in Mandatory Palestine