Yizre'el ( he, יִזְרְעֶאל) is a

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 ...

in north-eastern

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 ...

. Located in the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...

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

Gilboa Regional Council Gilboa Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית הגלבוע, ''Mo'atza Azorit (ha)Gilbo'a'') is a regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlemen ...

. In it had a population of .

History

After the

Mamluks 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'') i ...

took control of the area in the late 13th century, the Mamluk sultan

Zahir Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...

defeated the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

in the

Battle of Ain Jalut The Battle of Ain Jalut (), also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Mongol Empire on 3 September 1260 (25 Ramadan 658 AH) in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley near what is known today as the S ...

at a site just west of what was then Zir'in, where Yizre'el now stands. The kibbutz was established in August 1948 by

demobilised Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

soldiers in the remains of the depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village of

Zir'in Zir'in ( ar, زرعين, also spelled ''Zerein'') was a Palestinian Arab village of over 1,400 in the Jezreel Valley, located north of Jenin. Identified as the ancient town of Yizre'el (Jezreel), it was known as Zir'in during Islamic rule, and ...

. In 1950, it moved North-West of the

village site. It was one of the first kibbutzim to abandon the system of children sleeping in communal houses, instead allowing them to live with their parents. It was named after the ancient city of Jezreel, which was located in the area allotted to the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19:18).

Economy

A major branch of the kibbutz economy is Maytronics, which manufactures a robot swimming pool cleaner exported to over 34 countries. Maytronics also has a division for pool safety, including pool alarms and automatic pool covers. Yizre'el has been a major centre for

rugby union in Israel Rugby union in Israel was brought to the country by British soldiers during the British Mandate for Palestine. Rugby Israel was founded as the Israel Rugby Union in 1975, and joined the IRB in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of R ...

since the 1970s, when a group of local South Africans helped give the national game a major push.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'', Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997, p68

Notable people

Inbal Pezaro Inbal Pezaro ( he, ענבל פיזרו, born 26 March 1987) is an Israeli Paralympic swimmer. Biography Pezaro was born on Kibbutz Yizre'el. At birth she suffered from a complex with blood vessels at her spinal cord, which caused her to become p ...

(born 1987), Paralympic swimmer *

Avraham (Pachi) Shapira Avraham (Pachi) Shapira (1934 - ) is an Israeli scholar of secular Jewish culture. He was a professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University and editor of the kibbutz movement journal ''Shdemot''. Biography Avraham (Pachi) Shapira grew up in H ...

Builder of the Jewish Bookshelf

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Gilboa Regional Council Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1948 Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Rugby union in Israel 1948 establishments in Israel