Poleg ( he, נחל פולג, Naḥal Poleg) is a stream in the

Sharon plain The Sharon plain ( ''HaSharon Arabic: سهل شارون Sahel Sharon'') is the central section of the Israeli coastal plain. The plain lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Samarian Hills, to the east. It stretches from Nahal ...

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 ...

that empties into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

between

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

and the

Wingate Institute Wingate Institute ( he, מכון וינגייט), officially Orde Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports ( he, המכון לחינוך גופני ולספורט ע"ש אורד וינגייט), is a sports training institute located so ...

Geography

The stream starts between Tira and

Ramat HaKovesh Ramat HaKovesh ( he, רָמַת הַכּוֹבֵשׁ, , Conqueror's heights) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located approximately 7 kilometers north of Kfar Saba, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Drom HaSharon Regional Council. In it ...

, east of

Mishmeret Mishmeret ( he, מִשְׁמֶרֶת, , Position or Post) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain near Netanya and the HaSharon Junction and covering 3,800 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lev HaSharon Regional Counci ...

. It runs west to the sea, veering north at

Batzra Batzra ( he, בָּצְרָה) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain near Ra'anana, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Before the 20th century the area f ...

. It is mostly

intermittent Intermittency is a behavior of dynamical systems: regular alternation of phases of apparently periodic and chaotic dynamics. Intermittent or intermittency may also refer to: *Intermittent river or stream, the one that ceases to flow every year or ...

, and becomes a

perennial stream A perennial stream is a stream that has continuous flow of surface water throughout the year in at least parts of its catchment during seasons of normal rainfall, Water Supply Paper 494. as opposed to intermittent river, one whose flow is interm ...

towards its end. There is a man-made opening in the ''

kurkar Kurkar ( ar, كركار / he, כורכר) is the term used in Palestinian Arabic and modern Hebrew for the rock type of which lithified sea sand dunes consist. The equivalent term used in Lebanon is ramleh.[Aharon Horowitz. ''The Quaternary of I ...

'' ridge that runs south-north along the coastal plain.

History

In Arabic, the stream had been known as , alternatively transliterated as ; and later as . The nearby Tel Poleg archaeological site was excavated, revealing a fortified city of the Middle Bronze Age. The site has mostly been destroyed by a modern quarry. The original opening in the ''kurkar'' ridge was made in the Bronze Age, and reopened during the Ancient Rome, Roman period. The Crusaders called the stream ''River Rochetaillé'' ("Split-rock River") because of the long narrow rock channel, cut artificially at some former period through the inland cliffs, by which the river finds a channel to the sea shore. On 6 September 1191, the night before the

Battle of Arsuf The Battle of Arsuf took place on 7 September 1191, as part of the Third Crusade. It saw a multi-national force of Crusaders, led by Richard I of England, defeat a significantly larger army of the Ayyubid Sultanate, led by Saladin. Followin ...

, the Crusaders camped near the mouth of ''River Rochetaillé''; by then, the opening in the ridge had clogged again, resulting in a 4000-

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 ...

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

, which protected the Crusaders' camp from the east. The opening was cleared again in 1935, and the stream's current course was set in the area east of the ''kurkar'' ridge. The marsh, known by the Arabs as ''Birkat Ramadan'', remained south of

Tel Yitzhak Tel Yitzhak ( he, תֵּל יִצְחָק, ''lit.'' Yitzhak Hill) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the coastal plain to the south-east of Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population ...

as late as 1945, and was a popular hunting location with abundant wildfowl.

Nature Reserve

The Nahal Poleg nature reserve is situated between

and Ramat Poleg, between Highway 2 and the Mediterranean. It covers 500 dunams, and was declared a reserve in 1971. Flora in the reserve includes a coastal variety of

Boxthorn ''Lycium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The genus has a disjunct distribution around the globe, with species occurring on most continents in temperate and subtropical regions. South America has the most spec ...

, ''

Ephedra Ephedra may refer to: * Ephedra (medicine), a medicinal preparation from the plant ''Ephedra sinica'' * ''Ephedra'' (plant), genus of gymnosperm shrubs See also * Ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is of ...

aphylla'', ''

Calicotome ''Calicotome'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It may be synonymous with ''Cytisus ''Cytisus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to open sites (typically ...

villosa'', the endemic ''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

rothschildianus'', ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

atropurpurea'',

Lupin ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...

, and ''

Tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

a agenensis sharonensis''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poleg, Nahal Rivers of Israel Nature reserves in Israel Landforms of Central District (Israel) Protected areas of Central District (Israel)