Harel () is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in central

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located near

Latrun Latrun (, ''Latrun''; , ''al-Latrun'') is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla. It was the si ...

with an area of 12,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Mateh Yehuda Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Yehuda'', ) is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in the Jerusalem District of Israel. In 2024 it was home to 51,125 people. The name of the regional council stems from the fact t ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Harel established on 28 October 1948 on the land of the depopulated

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village of Bayt Jiz. It was named for the

Harel Brigade The 10th "Harel" Brigade (, ''Hativat Harel'') is a reserve infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Southern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Palestine war. It is one of the former divisions of the Palmach ...

of the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

, which its founders had been members of. The building from which

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

commanded the Harel Brigade is located in the grounds of the kibbutz. Most of the founders were Sabras, although some were new immigrants from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. A pre-Roman wine press was discovered in the kibbutz vineyards. Clos de Gat winery, established in 1998, produces around 90,000 bottles annually. The grapes come from 130 dunams of vineyards on the outskirts of the kibbutz.Clos de Gat Winery
Go Israel

Notable people

* Dani Karavan, sculptor *

Yaakov Agmon Yaakov Agmon (; 24 June 1929 – 16 December 2020) was an Israeli theater producer, manager, and director. Biography Yaakov Agmon grew up in Tel Aviv, and was a member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. He later moved to Kibbutz Harel, Isra ...

, theatre producer

Gallery

File:Harel ii.jpg, Arrival of material for construction of first buildings at Harel File:Harel i.jpg, The first barracks being assembled at Harel File:Harel iii.jpg, Weatherproofing being fixed to the exterior of first cabins at Harel. 27 October 1948. File:Harel iv.jpg, Members of the

Yiftach Brigade The 11th Brigade (also known as the Yiftach Brigade) is a reserves unit in the Israel Defense Forces, composed mainly of fighters that completed their compulsory service in the Egoz Unit, Unit 621 – 'Egoz'. History In the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

celebrating the establishment of Harel File:Harel v.jpg, General view of kibbutz Harel shortly after establishment File:114125 kibbutz harel PikiWiki Israel.jpg, Harel 1970

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1948 Populated places in Jerusalem District 1948 establishments in Israel