Yizre'el () 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 north-eastern

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 in the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...

near

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Gilboa Regional Council Gilboa Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit (ha)Gilbo'a'') is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Mount Gilboa, Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlements ...

. In it had a population of .

History

After the

Mamluks Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

took control of the area in the late 13th century, the Mamluk sultan Zahir Baybars defeated the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

in the

Battle of Ain Jalut The Battle of Ain Jalut (), also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Ilkhanate on 3 September 1260 (25 Ramadan 658 AH) near the spring of Ain Jalut in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley. It marks ...

at a site just west of what was then Zir'in, where Yizre'el now stands. The kibbutz was established in August 1948 by

demobilised Demobilization or demobilisation (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or becaus ...

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 ...

soldiers in the remains 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

Zir'in Zir'in (), also spelled Zerin and Zerein, was a Palestinian Arab village of over 1,400 in the Jezreel Valley, located north of Jenin. Identified as the ancient town of Yizre'el (Jezreel), it was known as Zir'in during Islamic rule, and was near ...

. In 1950, it moved North-West of the

village site. It was one of the first kibbutzim to abandon the system of children sleeping in communal houses, instead allowing them to live with their parents. It was named after the ancient city of Jezreel, which was located in the area allotted to the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19:18).

Economy

A major branch of the kibbutz economy is Maytronics, which manufactures a robot swimming pool cleaner exported to over 34 countries. Maytronics also has a division for pool safety, including pool alarms and automatic pool covers. Yizre'el has been a major centre for

rugby union in Israel Rugby union in Israel was brought to the country by British soldiers during the British Mandate for Palestine. Rugby Israel was founded as the Israel Rugby Union in 1975, and joined the IRB in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of R ...

since the 1970s, when a group of local South Africans helped give the national game a major push.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'', Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997, p68

Sports

Yizre'el RC Yizre'el Rugby Club is an Israeli amateur rugby club based in Yizre'el. History The club was founded in 1967 by a group mainly consisting of South Africans. The nickname likely refers to those origins: the '-kies' suffix (pronounced roughly like ...

Notable people

Inbal Pezaro Inbal Pezaro (; born 26 March 1987) is an Israeli Paralympic swimmer. Biography Pezaro was born on Kibbutz Yizre'el. At birth she suffered from a complex with blood vessels at her spinal cord, which caused her to become paralyzed in her lower li ...

(born 1987), Paralympic swimmer * Avraham (Pachi) ShapiraBuilder of the Jewish Bookshelf

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1948 Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Rugby union in Israel 1948 establishments in Israel Jezreel Valley