Tzrifin ( he, צְרִיפִין) is an area in Gush Dan (Dan Region) in central

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 on the eastern side of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ...

and including parts of Be'er Ya'akov. The area proper is defined as an 'area without jurisdiction' between the two cities. Nearly the entire area of Tzrifin proper was taken up by the central

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) base, Camp Yigael Yadin (a.k.a. Camp Tzrifin, Camp 782), with which it is synonymous, even though the base also spills into Rishon LeZion and Be'er Ya'akov. Camp Yadin contains a multitude of training bases, as well as

Prison Four Prison Four ( he, כלא ארבע, ''Kele Arba''), officially Confinement Base 394 ( he, בסיס כליאה 394, ''Bsis Kli'a 394'') is an Israeli military prison for Israeli soldiers, located in the military police compound in Tzrifin (Camp Yad ...

, the largest Israeli military prison. In late 2010s it was decided to vacate the area, move its bases to Camp Ariel Sharon and repurpose the land for residential development.

History

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area of Tzrifin belonged to the Nahiyeh (sub-district) of Lod that encompassed the area of the present-day city of

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( he, מוֹדִיעִין-מַכַּבִּים-רֵעוּת) is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In t ...

in the south to the present-day city of El'ad in the north, and from the foothills in the east, through the Lod Valley to the outskirts of

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

in the west. This area was home to thousands of inhabitants in about 20 villages, who had at their disposal tens of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land. Tzrifin was founded in 1917, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, as a British base named Sarafand or Sarafend, after the nearby Arab village Sarafand al-Amar. Sarafand was a central British base in a strategic location situated nearby the important railway junction at Lydda ( Lod) – which was accessible from the base via a spur off of the Jaffa–Lydda–Jerusalem railway. The

Transjordan Frontier Force The Trans-Jordan Frontier Force was formed on 1 April 1926, to replace the disbanded British Gendarmerie. It was a creation of the British High Commissioner for Palestine whose intention was that the Force should defend Trans-Jordan's northe ...

(TJFF) was established at Sarafand on 1 April 1926 with a cadre drawn from the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1 ...

. The TJFF subsequently moved to Zerqa in October 1926. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Jewish Brigade was formed in Tzrifin. Starting in the 1930s, next to the military camp there was a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

for Arab and Jewish Palestinian convicts in

administrative detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

, and for Jewish illegal immigrants. On 14 May 1948, the day of the

Israeli declaration of independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executiv ...

, British forces vacated Sarafand. False rumours suggested the British sold the base to the Arabs, but only Arab residents of nearby villages, some of whom worked in the base, entered the base for looting. The adjacent Arab village Sarafand al-'Amr was depopulated on 15 May. After a two-day battle, between the 18th and 19 May, the base was captured by the Jewish forces from the

Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...

. The place was named Tzrifin after a historical city with that name located in the area and mentioned in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

. As the years passed,

expanded to the east, eventually reaching the fence line of Camp Yadin. As a result, the IDF decided to vacate Tzrifin and sell its land to private residential developers due to the high land value. By the early 2020s the IDF is expected to vacate all of its installations from Tzrifin, with most of their functions being relocated to new bases to Camp Ariel Sharon in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

desert, Southern Israel. In 2019 the central part of the camp was demolished to give way for 1,100 new apartments for Rishon LeZion.

Location and geography

Tzrifin is located between Rishon LeZion on the west, and Be'er Ya'akov on all 3 other sides. It is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

and from the Mediterranean seashore. The base in it has three main entrances—Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem Gate and Rishon LeZion Gate, all of which are located within the municipalities, and not within Tzrifin proper. The Jaffa Gate links a street within the base to

Road 44 The following highways are numbered 44. Australia * Great Western Highway, Parramatta Road (Sydney) * Captain Cook Highway - Queensland State Route 44 (Regional) * Greensborough Highway Canada * Alberta Highway 44 * Manitoba Highway 44 * Ontar ...

(Tzrifin Junction). At this location, there are a number of fast food restaurants and a pedestrian bridge which connects the base to the bus terminal on the other side of the road. The

Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center Shamir Medical Center, formerly Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, is a hospital located on , southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel. History The Medical Center was named after Asaph the Jew, author of the Oath of Asaph and an early medical text. The facilit ...

is located near the Jaffa Gate. The Jerusalem Gate links the base to Tzahal Road (Road 4313) in Be'er Ya'akov, which ultimately connects to Road 44 at the Nir Tzvi Junction in the Emek Lod Regional Council. The Rishon LeZion gate is located deep within Rishon LeZion and connects Rishon's Jerusalem Street with the base.

Bases

As with many other IDF bases, Camp Yadin is a container base for many smaller ones. The following is a list of bases within Camp Yadin.

Training bases

*Bahad 6 – the school for logistics *Bahad 7 – the school for telecommunications and computers - technically located outside Camp Yadin *Bahad 10 – the school for medical professions *Bahad 11 – the Human Resources Directorate training base ( Adjutant Corps, General Corps) *Bahad 12 – the school for command, belonging to the

GOC Army Headquarters The GOC Army Headquarters ( he, מפקדת זרוע היבשה, ''Mifkedet Zro'a HaYabasha'', abbreviated Mazi), is a multi-corps command headquarters created in 1998, which amalgamates the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces. The current ...

(now closed) * Bahad 16 – the school for extraction and rescue *Bahad 20 – the school for the Ordnance Corps *The school for military law and the disciplinary court department *The school for governing

Other bases (partial links)

*108th Air Force Unit and Erez Workshop * Military Police Corps area, including

(Unit 394), Yamlat 8225, CID Dan and ''Yamar'' Center * Lotem telecommunications unit (Unit 818) *779th Military Rabbinate Unit (

Beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

) *542nd Medical Corps Unit *Anti- WMD Base B *276th Anti-WMD Center *Military court for off-duty days *Food supply center (Units 6100, 6110 and 6120) *562nd and 564th building and maintenance units *Combat Equipment and Spare Parts Center (''Matzlah'') (Unit 6800) *''

Hoshen The priestly breastplate or breastpiece of judgment ( he, חֹשֶׁן ''ḥōšen'') was a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest of the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account, the breastplate is termed the ''br ...

'' Center (Unit 868) *Maintenance and Rehabilitation Center (Unit 7000) *791st Workshop

Non-military use

During the 1950s, a '' Ma'abara'' was located on the lands of Tzrifin, the residents of which eventually moved out to the nearby towns, especially Lod. Currently, several non-military installations are located in the Tzrifin area: *

, which provides care for both military and civilian patients * Shmuel HaRofe Geriatric Hospital *Warehouses belonging to the

Jewish Agency for Israel 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. ...

*Various industrial complexes

Military evacuation and civilian development

The Israel Defense Forces is slated to move most bases in Tzrifin in 2013–2014 to the new City of Training Bases being built south of

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

. The area of the base will open to civilian development, and will be divided between the municipalities of

and Be'er Ya'akov. Most of the area, 840

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 amou ...

s (0.84 km²), will go Rishon LeZion, and much of it will be zoned for commercial development. This will including an industrial zone for medical development, next to the Asaf HaRofe Hospital. Be'er Ya'akov will get 560 dunams (0.56 km²) mostly for residential development.

Archaeology

An archaeological excavation was conducted at ''Khirbet Tzrifin'' in 2010 by Ron Toueg on behalf of

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

(IAA).

Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2010
Survey Permit # A-5928

References

{{coord, 31, 57, 31.25, N, 34, 50, 22.33, E, display=title Military installations of Israel Geography of Central District (Israel)