Kiryat Tiv'on (, also Qiryat Tiv'on) is a town in the

Haifa District Haifa District () is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa in Israel. The district is one of the seven administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Haifa. The district land area is 864 km2 (299.3 mi2). D ...

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 ...

, in the hills between the Zvulun (Zebulon) and Jezreel valleys. Kiryat Tiv'on is located southeast of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, on the main road to

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

. Kiryat Tiv'on is the result of the municipal merger of several older settlements, Tiv'on (est. 1946), Elro'i (est. 1935), Kiryat Haroshet (est. 1935) and Kiryat Amal (est. 1937). On the outskirts of Tiv'on is a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

called Basmat Tab'un. In 2022 Kiryat Tiv'on had a population of 19,130. In the area of Kiryat Tivon, one can find the National Park and the World Heritage Site Beit She'arim, the Sanhedrin's Seat and the burial place of Rabbi

Judah ha-Nasi Judah ha-Nasi (, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ‎''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of ...

, as well as the sculpture of

Alexander Zaid Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

, who resided in the area with his family and was murdered nearby.

History

Ancient Israel

An ancient Jewish town called Tiv'on existed in the general area. It was mentioned in the

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

and

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

. It is mentioned several times in Talmudic literature in connection with various sages, some of whom lived there.

Ottoman Empire

In 1859, the village of ''Tubaun'' was estimated to have a tillage of 22

feddan A feddan () is a unit of area used in Egypt, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and 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 feddan is the only n ...

s.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
273
/ref> In 1875,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

found that the village had 200 inhabitants. In 1881, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described ''Tubaun'' as a small

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

village, on high ground, at the edge of the wood. A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Tuba'un'' had about 90 inhabitants; all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

British Mandate

The

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

showed that ''Tub'un'' had 151 inhabitants, all Muslim. The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the

Sursock Purchase The Sursock Purchases were land purchases made by Jewish organizations from the absentee landowning Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christian Sursock family, mainly from 1901 to 1925. These included the Jezreel Valley and Haifa Bay, as well as other l ...

. In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 30 feddans in Kiskis (present Alonim) and Tabaun (present Kiryat Tiv'on) from the

Sursuk 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 Beir ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. At the time, there were 36 families living there. In the 1931 census ''Tabun'' had a population of 239, still all Muslim, in a total of 48 houses. From 1931-1935, a significant land controversy arose from competing claims by the Jewish Agency and Arab

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and mana ...

over the area, culminating in a violent clash between local Bedouins and Jewish watchmen in 1935. In the 1945 statistics, ''al Tivon'' (Alonim) (previously ''Qusqus Taboun'') had 370 Muslim and 320 Jewish inhabitants, with a total land area of 5,823

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. Of this, 141 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,038 for

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s, while 3,644 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.

Modern Israel

The symbol of Kiryat Tiv'on is the

cyclamen ''Cyclamen'' ( or ) is a genus of 23 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. In English, it is known by the common names sowbread or swinebread. ''Cyclamen'' species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin ea ...

, a flower that grows between the rocks, reflecting the town's appreciation of nature and its efforts to preserve the landscape and safeguard the environment.http://www.ktv.org.il/ Municipality website

Population

According to data from the

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (, ''HaLishka HaMerkazit LiStatistika''; ), abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including ...

(as of the end of September 2020, an estimate), there are 18,312 residents living in Kiryat Tivon. The population has been growing at an annual rate of 3%. The percentage of those eligible for a matriculation certificate among 12th-grade students in the academic year 2020-2021 was 84.1%. The average monthly salary of an employee in 2019 was 12,598 NIS (national average: 9,745 NIS).

Characteristics of Kiryat Tivon

Climate

The climate conditions in the area are considered comfortable. The annual average temperature difference is 19 Celsius degrees. The average temperature between day and night is 10 degrees Celsius. The average humidity is 65% - 70%. The number of sunny days per year ranges from 20 to 40 days, and heavy overcast days range from 3 to 6 days. The average annual rainfall is 700 millimeters.

Flora

In the hilly area within the boundaries of the settlement and its vicinity, grow remnants of the

Quercus ithaburensis ''Quercus ithaburensis'', the Mount Tabor oak, is a tree in the beech family Fagaceae. It is found from southeastern Italy to the Levant. It is the national tree of Jordan. Two subspecies are accepted, ''Quercus ithaburensis'' subsp. ''ithaburens ...

forest,

Styrax officinalis ''Styrax officinalis'' is a species of shrub in the family Styracaceae, commonly called the storax tree, or Snowdrop bush. Description ''Styrax officinalis'' is a deciduous shrub reaching a height of . It has a simple, relaxed form, with very t ...

Pistacia atlantica ''Pistacia atlantica'' is a species of Pistacia, pistachio tree known by the English language, English common name Mt. Atlas mastic tree, Atlas pistachio, Atlantic pistacio, Atlantic terebinth, wild pistachio, and Cyprus turpentine tree. ''P. a ...

, a

Mediterranean forest Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in ...

, as well as a new intensive forest of

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

trees planted by the

Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

(AKA Keren Kayemet LeYisrael). Among the Tabor oak trees stands the ancient oak tree with a trunk circumference of 5.3 meters. Benches have been placed around it as a corner of remembrance for the soldier Ilan Gabbai, a paratrooper officer who died in the

Second Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. One-third of the settlement's area is covered with trees.

Education

* Oranim Academic College, for educational studies. * Ramat Hadassah youth village, founded by the Jewish Agency for Israel. * Kfar Tikvah, village for disabled people.

Landmarks

The town is best known for the national park, Beit She'arim, which borders it on the southwest. Beit Shearim was an important Jewish spiritual center and necropolis during the Roman period, and was once the seat of the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

Notable people

David Elazar David "Dado" Elazar (; 27 August 1925 – 15 April 1976) was an Israeli senior military officer who was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. He was forced to resign in the afterma ...

, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces *

Mordechai Gur Mordechai "Motta" Gur (; May 6, 1930 – July 16, 1995) was an Israeli politician and the 10th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. During the Six-Day War (1967), he commanded the brigade that penetrated the Old City of Jerusalem and b ...

, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces * Tal Friedman, actor and comedian * Yoni Eilat, actor and singer * Tomer Hemed, footballer *

Frank Lowy Sir Frank P. Lowy ( ; born 22 October 1930) is an Australian people, Australian-Israeli people, Israeli businessman of Jewish Slovak-Hungarian origins and the former long-time chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company ...

, Australian businessman and third richest man in Australia as of 2016 * Rina Mor, lawyer, Miss Israel 1976 and Miss Universe 1976 * Hilla Nachshon, TV host, model and actress. *

Sara Netanyahu Sara Netanyahu (; []; born November 1958) is the spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel, spouse of the prime minister of Israel by marriage to Benjamin Netanyahu, holding the role for her third time. By profession, she is an Educational psycholo ...

, wife of Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

* Eliezer Smoli, children's author * Yaacov Ayish, Israeli Defense Attaché

Twin towns – sister cities

Kiryat Tiv'on is twinned with: *

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Germany *

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

, France *

Čakovec Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...

, Croatia

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

New version of old self-defense group guards Jewish farmlands
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5:
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Authority control Local councils in Haifa District