Sha'ar HaAmakim ( he, שַׁעַר הַעֲמָקִים, ''lit.'' Gate of the Valleys) is a
kibbutz 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 ...
associated with the
Hashomer Hatzair movement founded in 1935. Located near
Kiryat Tiv'on
Kiryat Tiv'on ( he, קִרְיַת טִבְעוֹן, also Qiryat Tiv'on) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel, in the hills between the Zvulun (Zebulon) and Jezreel valleys. Kiryat Tiv'on is situated southeast of Haifa
Haifa ( he, ...
, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Zevulun Regional Council
Zevulun Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית זבולון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Zvulun'') is a regional council in the Haifa District of Israel. Founded in 1950, it had a population of 10,900 in 2006.
The council borders Mateh Asher Regio ...
. In it had a population of .
History
Antiquity
![Hellenistic Site in kibbutz Sha'ar-Ha'Amakim 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Hellenistic_Site_in_kibbutz_Sha%27ar-Ha%27Amakim_1.jpg)
Human habitation in the area dates at least as far back as the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
.
Although the site, in recent history, has borne the name of ''Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye'', it is thought by modern-day archaeologists to have been the
Second Temple-period site known as ''Geba'' / ''Gibea'' ( gr, Γάβα), based on
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
' description of distances between ''Geba'' and
Simonias
Tel Shimron (Hebrew: תל שמרון) is an archaeological site and nature reserve in the Jezreel Valley.
Shimron was the name of a major city in the north of Israel throughout antiquity. It is mentioned in the Bible by this name, and in othe ...
and
Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village)
Beit She'arim ( / / Bet Sharei) or Besara ( gr, Βήσαρα) was a Roman-era Jewish village from the 1st century BCE until the 3rd century CE which, at one time, was the seat of the Sanhedrin.
In the mid-2nd century, the village briefly beca ...
in
Lower Galilee.
Crusades
In 1283, during the ''
hudna
A ''hudna'' (from the Arabic meaning "calm" or "quiet") is a truce or armistice. It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In his medieval dictionary of classical Arabic, the '' Lisan al-Arab'', Ibn Manzur defined it as:
: "''hadana'': he ...
'' ("truce") between the
Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
based in
Acre and the
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
sultan
al-Mansur Qalawun
( ar, قلاوون الصالحي, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290.
He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious").
Biography and rise to power
Qalawun was a Kipchak, ancient Turkic ...
, this location was named ''el Harathiyah'' and was described as part of the domain of the Crusaders.
Ottoman rule
During the
Ottoman era, a Muslim village at the site was named ''el Hâritheh''. The village appeared as ''El Harti'' on the map of
Pierre Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the '' Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in E ...
compiled in 1799. In 1859, the population was recorded as 120 with tillable land of 12
feddan
A feddan ( ar, فدّان, faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and the Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the fedda ...
s.
[Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p]
270
/ref> In 1875, Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...
reported about 40 houses. In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as an adobe hamlet.[
A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Harithiyeh'' had about 120 inhabitants; all Muslims.
]
British Mandate
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the ''Al Zubaidat'', who cultivated the ''Hartieh'' land, numbered 363, all Muslims.
The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase. In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 50 feddan
A feddan ( ar, فدّان, faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and the Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the fedda ...
s in ''Hartieh'' from the Sursock family
The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Bei ...
of Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. At the time, there were 60 families living there. In the 1931 census, the ''Arab Zubeidat'' was counted under the Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-Amr, also Shfar'am ( ar, شفاعمرو, Šafāʻamr, he, שְׁפַרְעָם, Šəfarʻam) is an Arab citizens of Israel, Arab city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of , with a Sunni I ...
suburbs.[Mills, 1932, p]
90
From 1931, and lasting several years, the Jewish Agency
The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...
struggled to evict the ''Arab El Zubeidat'', who were tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s at ''Hartiya''.[Avneri, 1984, pp]
156-7
/ref> According to Avneri, ''Hartiya'' land was to become Sha'ar HaAmakim.[
According to the Department of Statistics, however, Sha'ar HaAmakim had previously been part of Sheikh Bureik.][
Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim was founded in 1935 by ]immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
from Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. One of its founders was Aharon Cohen Aharon Cohen ( he, אהרון כהן; 1910-1980) was a senior member of Mapam, a pro- USSR Israeli political party which existed during the first two decades of statehood.
Born in Britchany, Bessarabia in what was the Tsarist empire, now Romania. ...
, later to be convicted of spying for the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. Its name was derived from the nearby confluence of the Jezreel and Zevulun valleys. By the 1945 statistics it had a population of 360, all Jews.[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p]
15
/ref>[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
49
/ref>
State of Israel
Sha'ar HaAmakim hosted volunteers from around the world, including France and the United States, who worked at the kibbutz and participated in cultural exchanges. In the 1960s, there were up to 100 volunteers each year. Bernie Sanders spent time at the kibbutz for several months in 1963.[
]
Economy
According to a 2016 report, the kibbutz derives most of its income from its solar water heater
Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential an ...
factory. Additional sources of income include agriculture, such as dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...
.[ For over five decades, the kibbutz has produced and processed sunflower seeds which it markets under its name both in Israel and for export.] It also has a fish pond and orchards producing apples, peaches, and pears.[
]
References
Bibliography
*
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*
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*
*
* (reprinted from 1944 edition)
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External links
*
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim Collection
(in Hebrew) on the Digital collections of Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library
The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library is a central academic library of the University of Haifa, and one of the largest in Israel. It is also one of the most progressive Israeli libraries in terms of service, collection, physical space, and libr ...
, University of Haifa
{{portal bar, Israel
Kibbutzim
Kibbutz Movement
Populated places established in 1935
Populated places in Haifa District
Romanian-Jewish culture in Israel
1935 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Yugoslav-Jewish culture in Israel