Shamir, Israel
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Shamir () 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
Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...
area of
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 on the western slopes of the
Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
, it falls under the jurisdiction of
Upper Galilee Regional Council The Upper Galilee Regional Council (, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Mo'atza Azorit HaGalil HaElyon'') is a regional council (Israel), regional council in Israel's Upper Galilee region, bordered by the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council and the ...
. In it had a population of .


History

The kibbutz was established in 1944 by a small group of mainly
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n
immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
. The first-generation settlers were members of the
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
youth movement
Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...
. Following the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
-established border between Israel and
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
was drawn to run only a few hundred yards east of the kibbutz. On Thursday 13 June 1974, four PFLP-GC terrorists infiltrated the Lebanon-Israel border and invaded the kibbutz. They entered one of the buildings shooting a pregnant woman Edna Mor (28) and another woman Shoshana Galili (58). Edna left behind a child and husband. The terrorists continued shooting at random. Judith Sinton (19), a
Kibbutz volunteer Kibbutz volunteers are people who come from all over the world to live and work in a kibbutz in Israel. These volunteers, mostly young people, usually stay at the kibbutz for a short period of time (such as a month or all summer), working in vari ...
from New Zealand, on her way back to the apiary after breakfast, was shot and killed by one of the terrorists. The members of the kibbutz seized their weapons and ran in the direction from where gunfire was heard. In the gun battle that followed, all four terrorists were killed. The terrorists' aim was to take hostages to exchange for jailed terrorists. Their written message ends: "We love to die, as you love to live." The artist Avraham Eilat who was at that time a member of the kibbutz documented the event.


Economy

As of 2006, Shamir was one of the most prosperous kibbutzim in Israel, producing honey, toiletries, and advanced optical products. The optical enterprise,
Shamir Optical Industry Shamir Optical Industry Ltd. is an international company headquartered in Kibbutz Shamir, Israel that develops and manufactures optical lenses for eyeglasses. In 2005, the company issued dual listings, on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, ...
, was previously a fully incorporated stock company, quoted on
NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
. In 2011
Essilor Essilor International is a French multinational corporation specialized in the design, manufacture and sale of ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment and instruments. It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses. Founded in 197 ...
became a 50% shareholder and the company went private. The kibbutz also earns money from tourism; it offers views of
Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...
to the north and the
Hula Valley The Hula Valley () is a valley and fertile agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water that used to be Lake Hula before it was drained. It is a major stopover for birds migrating along the Great Rift Valley between Africa ...
below the kibbutz. A relatively rare phenomenon can be observed from Shamir—a "sunrise in the west." As the kibbutz is nested in the steeply-rising western slopes of the Golan, when the sun rises, its first rays at daybreak illuminate the peaks of the Ramim mountain range across the valley to the west of Shamir. As the sun climbs progressively higher, more of Ramim is bathed in sunshine, which can then be observed progressing from west to east, down the slopes of Ramim, across the valley and up the slopes of the Golan before reaching the kibbutz.


Landmarks

Of notable interest are some 3rd-century border stones with
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
inscriptions. Surrounding the kibbutz is a field of more than 400
dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...
s, dated to the Bronze Age IB (c. 2350–2000 BCE). The largest of the dolmens has a basalt capstone of 50 tons which has rock art on its underside—the only art known from dolmens in the southern Levant. Its excavators judge that the scale of the dolmen field and size of the dolmens indicate a governmental system more complex than that usually assigned to the period.


Notable people

*
Sara Braverman Sara Braverman (; 1918 – 10 February 2013) was a member of the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine. She was one of the first female fighters to serve in the Palmach and a founding member of the IDF Women's Corps. Biography Sara (Surika ...
*
Uzi Arad Uzi Arad (; born October 2, 1947) is an Israeli national security official and scholar. Spending over two decades in the Mossad, Arad rose to become the agency's director of research (Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence). Between ...


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1944 Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Romanian-Jewish culture in Israel 1944 establishments in Mandatory Palestine