Sha'ar HaAmakim ( he, שַׁעַר הַעֲמָקִים, ''lit.'' Gate of the Valleys) 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 ...

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

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 ...

associated with the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the gro ...

movement founded in 1935. Located near

Kiryat Tiv'on Kiryat Tiv'on ( he, קִרְיַת טִבְעוֹן, also Qiryat Tiv'on) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel, in the hills between the Zvulun (Zebulon) and Jezreel valleys. Kiryat Tiv'on is situated southeast of Haifa, on the main road to ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Zevulun Regional Council Zevulun Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית זבולון, ''Mo'atza Azorit Zvulun'') is a regional council in the Haifa District of Israel. Founded in 1950, it had a population of 10,900 in 2006. The council borders Mateh Asher Regio ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Antiquity

Hellenistic Site in kibbutz Sha'ar-Ha'Amakim 1

Human habitation in the area dates at least as far back as the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

. Although the site, in recent history, has borne the name of ''Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye'', it is thought by modern-day archaeologists to have been the Second Temple-period site known as ''Geba'' / ''Gibea'' ( gr, Γάβα), based on

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

' description of distances between ''Geba'' and

Simonias Tel Shimron ( Hebrew: תל שמרון‎) is an archaeological site and nature reserve in the Jezreel Valley. Shimron was the name of a major city in the north of Israel throughout antiquity. It is mentioned in the Bible by this name, and in ...

and

Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village) Beit She'arim ( / / Bet Sharei) or Besara ( gr, Βήσαρα) was a Roman-era Jewish village from the 1st century BCE until the 3rd century CE which, at one time, was the seat of the Sanhedrin. In the mid-2nd century, the village briefly beca ...

Lower Galilee The Lower Galilee (; ar, الجليل الأسفل, translit=Al Jalil Al Asfal) is a region within the Northern District of Israel. The Lower Galilee is bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the south; the Upper Galilee to the north, from which it is ...

Crusades

In 1283, during the ''

hudna A ''hudna'' (from the Arabic meaning "calm" or "quiet") is a truce or armistice. It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In his medieval dictionary of classical Arabic, the '' Lisan al-Arab'', Ibn Manzur defined it as: : "''hadana'': he g ...

'' ("truce") between the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

based in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

and the

Mamluk 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 ...

sultan

al-Mansur Qalawun ( ar, قلاوون الصالحي, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290. He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious"). Biography and rise to power Qalawun was a Kipchak, ancient Turkic ...

, this location was named ''el Harathiyah'' and was described as part of the domain of the Crusaders.

Ottoman rule

During the

Ottoman Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

era, a Muslim village at the site was named ''el Hâritheh''. The village appeared as ''El Harti'' on the map of

Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the '' Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in ...

compiled in 1799. In 1859, the population was recorded as 120 with tillable land of 12

feddan A feddan ( ar, فدّان, faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and the 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 fe ...

s.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
270
/ref> In 1875,

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

reported about 40 houses. In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as an

adobe Adobe ( ; ) 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 used to refer to any kind of ...

hamlet. A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Harithiyeh'' had about 120 inhabitants; all Muslims.

British Mandate

In 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 ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the ''Al Zubaidat'', who cultivated the ''Hartieh'' land, numbered 363, all Muslims. The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the

Sursock Purchase The Sursock Purchase of the Jezreel Valley and Haifa Bay, as well as other parts of Mandatory Palestine, was the largest Jewish land purchase in Palestine during the period of early Jewish immigration. The Jezreel Valley was considered the most ...

. In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 50

s in ''Hartieh'' from the

Sursock 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 Bei ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. At the time, there were 60 families living there. In the 1931 census, the ''Arab Zubeidat'' was counted under the

Shefa-'Amr Shefa-Amr, also Shfar'am ( ar, شفاعمرو, Šafāʻamr, he, שְׁפַרְעָם, Šəfarʻam) is an Arab city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of , with a Sunni Muslim majority and large Christian Arab and Druze m ...

suburbs.Mills, 1932, p
90
From 1931, and lasting several years, the

Jewish Agency 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. ...

struggled to evict the ''Arab El Zubeidat'', who were

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person ( farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and managemen ...

s at ''Hartiya''.Avneri, 1984, pp
156-7
/ref> According to Avneri, ''Hartiya'' land was to become Sha'ar HaAmakim. According to the Department of Statistics, however, Sha'ar HaAmakim had previously been part of

Sheikh Bureik Sheikh Bureik ( ar, الشيخ بريك او الشيخ اِبريق), locally called Sheikh Abreik or Sheikh Ibreik in recent times,Sharon, 2004, p. xxxvii/ref> was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of Haifa.Negev and Gibson, 2001pp. ...

. Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim was founded in 1935 by

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. One of its founders was

Aharon Cohen Aharon Cohen ( he, אהרון כהן; 1910-1980) was a senior member of Mapam, a pro-USSR Israeli political party which existed during the first two decades of statehood. Born in Britchany, Bessarabia in what was the Tsarist empire, now Romania. He ...

, later to be convicted of spying for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Its name was derived from the nearby

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river ( main stem); ...

of the Jezreel and

Zevulun According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Zebulun (alternatively rendered as ''Zabulon, Zabulin, Zabulun, Zebulon''; ) was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes in the Bo ...

valleys. By the 1945 statistics it had a population of 360, all Jews.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
15
/ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
49
/ref>

State of Israel

Sha'ar HaAmakim hosted volunteers from around the world, including France and the United States, who worked at the kibbutz and participated in cultural exchanges. In the 1960s, there were up to 100 volunteers each year. Bernie Sanders spent time at the kibbutz for several months in 1963.

Economy

According to a 2016 report, the kibbutz derives most of its income from its

solar water heater Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential a ...

factory. Additional sources of income include agriculture, such as

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

. For over five decades, the kibbutz has produced and processed

sunflower seed The sunflower seed is the seed of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). There are three types of commonly used sunflower seeds: linoleic (most common), high oleic, and sunflower oil seeds. Each variety has its own unique levels of monounsatu ...

s which it markets under its name both in Israel and for export. It also has a

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical ga ...

and orchards producing apples, peaches, and pears.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * (reprinted from 1944 edition) * * *

External links

* *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5
IAA

Wikimedia commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...

Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim Collection
(in Hebrew) on the Digital collections of

Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library is a central academic library of the University of Haifa, and one of the largest in Israel. It is also one of the most progressive Israeli libraries in terms of service, collection, physical space, and libr ...

, University of Haifa {{portal bar, Israel Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1935 Populated places in Haifa District Romanian-Jewish culture in Israel 1935 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Yugoslav-Jewish culture in Israel